Through These Fields of Destruction
by Antj
Summary: Set in the UK. An SAS trooper's first mission goes wrong when an outbreak occurs. Now the country is literally tearing itself apart, a few survivors meet up and hack a plan to escape the city of London, but that is only the beginning of their troubles.
1. God Save the Queen!

_**August 17, 2005 8:04 am, somewhere north of the London border/Hertfordshire. **_

The sounds of the slicing blades of two SA 330 type helicopters reverberated throughout the countryside as they neared the major urban city center of London.

"TEN MINUTES!! Equipment check!" SSgt Hammond, the senior NCO of our squad and a veteran of 15 years yelled out over the roaring twin engines of the SA 330 Puma helicopters. This was the third equipment check since we took off. I quickly went through the motions, checking my G36 and my sidearm, which was a SIG P226, and the various pouches on my PLCE and ballistics vest that covered my solid black fatigues. _Fireproof underwear... check._ Everything was there.

"Intel shows a substantial amount of civilian activity on the ground surrounding the palace." He continued.

"Blue team, you're on the hellies, I want the immediate vicinity clear when we evac the objective, red team you're on me. We go in hot and fast, I don't want any mistakes, you're all professionals lets get in and get out, focus and we'll all be home in time for brunch." He added in.

I leaned my head out the side of the cabin and gazed through the open door down at the passing English countryside. It was a beautiful crisp August morning. It had just finished raining and the air was pure of it's usual smogginess.

My eyes slowly strayed upwards from the beauty and rested on the sight of our nation's capitol, London. I could see an indistinct amount of magnificent cloud like plumes of smoke rising from somewhere within the city limits. The sight made this mission seem absurd, _they're all most likely dead by now anyways._ I was overwhelmed and didn't notice the tears welling up in my eyes, not for fear, but from the astonishing display of mass destruction I had become witness to.

Focus.

My name is Alex Wright and I'm with the 21st SAS Regiment, Air Troop, A-Squadron. I'm with an eight man team tasked with a search and rescue mission. Our main objective: Evacuation of the royal family and other dignitaries. I was still green, only having passed selection four months ago so this is my first mission, but I have been training for this longer than I can remember.

"Hey Alex, you ready to meet the Queen?"

"God save the queen eh?" I replied jokingly.

Sgt Eric Dalton, 22 years old and a month younger than I, is my closest friend and the brother I never had. He's about my height and has a similar build with blonde hair and blue eyes that contrasted with my black and green. We had known each other since we first could walk. I convinced him to join the Territorial Army with me after we graduated from high school and later we went through special forces selection together.

"I better get a commendation for this!" He added.

"FIVE MINUTES!" SSgt Hammond yelled while casting a "shut the fuck up and focus" glance in our direction. Eric just smiled, and I put my game face back on.

_Click... _I could hear faintly the sound of music coming from the cockpit.

_I've got a feeling, a feeling deep inside, oh yeah... _

Heh, goto love those RAF bastardsI thought._ Oh yeah..._

I looked downward as we flew over row upon row of buildings and skyscrapers that enclosed a flurry of activity on the street level. _Riots._

_I've got a feeling, a feeling I can't hide, oh no... Oh no... Oh no... yeah, yeah... I've got a feeling, yeah..._

These riots were worse than I thought. What started as a few isolated incidents had turned into widespread panic, people fleeing the city en masse. But it was no use, there was just too much traffic, burning vehicles and police barricades crowded the major passageways out of the city making them impassable.

_Oh please believe me, I'd hate to miss the train... Oh yeah... Oh yeah..._

The people that had decided to make a run for it were intercepted by the rioters, and the ones fortunate enough to make it out of their grasp were cut down by military and police personnel indiscriminately firing and throwing CS gas grenades into the crowd.

_And if you leave me, I won't be late again... Oh no... Oh no..._

"THREE MINUTES!" Second in command SSgt Robinson yelled. "Stay sharp!"

_Yeah, yeah, I've got a feeling, yeah... I've got a feeling, yeah..._

On the roof of some of the higher office buildings I could clearly see people signaling us for rescue, others were being chased and attacked by rioters, and some were even jumping...

_All these years I've been wandering around wondering how come nobody told me All that I was looking for was somebody who looked like you..._

"TWO MINUTES!" Robinson yelled as a constant reminder. "No fuck-ups, we're at the point of no return now!"

_I've got a feeling, that keeps my on my toes... Oh yeah... Oh yeah..._

My adrenaline was pumping with anticipation now. I was becoming apprehensive, not about dying, not even about killing someone, but that I would somehow fuck this operation up. _I had a bad feeling about this mission..._

_I've got a feeling that everybody knows, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I've got a feeling, yeah yeah..._

"ONE MINUTE!" Robinson said as he looked out the door. "Safeties off!" We were now nearing St James park and the pilot started a slow descent.

_Everybody had a hard year, Everybody had a good time..._

I had a clear view of the pandemonium that plagued the streets now. Hundreds of people lined the gates trying to get in while the guards desperately held them off. The crowd didn't seem right though...

_Everybody had a----click..._

"30 seconds!" The pilot yelled after switching off the radio.

Our two SA 330s hovered above the ground slowly continuing it's descent.

"Red team, on me lets move, go go!" Hammond yelled and his team exited the helicopter seconds before we touched down. Red team had Hammond in lead with Derikson, Harold, and Taylor. _Good luck guys._

We were now set down in the center of the courtyard. Red team, which had already gone, was to retrieve the objectives while Blue team would defend our means of escape. I was on blue team with Eric, Coy, and Robinson.

"Get to your positions!" Robinson yelled over the roaring engines of the choppers, which seemed to scream in unison with the hundreds of rioters hanging on the gates.

We were approached by three men in bloodied guard uniforms. The leader, who was a man by the name of Fife, filled us in on the situation. Lawrence Fife was a balding man in his thirties who looked afraid, disoriented, and in a state of panic.

"Glad you could join us, we were getting worried we were on our own!" He yelled over the noise of the helicopters and yelling rioters.

"We've lost Ambassador's Court and 3 of my men along with it, we're being overrun on the east side and the gate is about to go, we've got to go NOW!." He added.

I put one arm on the his shoulder in an attempt to calm the man down and whispered into his ear: "Tell your men to fall back to the helicopters and prepare for immediate evac."

He gave me a quick nod and went to his task.

"Dalton, Wright, set up in the front. Keep everyone away from both choppers, Coy, you're with me, lets move!" Robinson yelled.

Sgt Robinson, second in command and squad leader of blue team, motioned us to create a defensive perimeter. He was a tall man with a very large build, not someone you would want to mess with.

_POP! POP!_ I heard gunshots and looked through my rifle scope at a crowd of at least thirty people that had somehow breached the perimeter fences. They were about 200 meters across the courtyard and chasing seven armed guards in our direction, _again I had that feeling that these people just didn't seem right..._

"Eric, we have hostiles closing in fast at 12 o' clock."

"Copy that Alex."

"FIRE! FIRE!" I heard Fife call out as he pointed towards the mob. I glanced back at him and he looked like he was going to shit his pants and if I didn't have a mission to complete I would've done the same.

The crowd converged on two of the fleeing guards and took them down. I was awe-struck when they proceeded to literally rip them apart. _I was right, there is something really wrong with this crowd..._

"What the fuck! Fire some warning shots, get them off those guards!" Eric nodded and let loose a volley of bullets into the air.

"HALT!" I yelled out as I fired into the air in warning. "HALT!"

"The crowd is not dispersing, I repeat you are clear for lethal force. OPEN FIRE!" Robinson's yelled through our radios.

He didn't have to repeat himself, we opened up on the mob, but it did little to slow them down and only added to the masses of blood already covering them. When our lethal force proved ineffectual, Fife and the few of his men that were remaining ran for the second chopper and tried to get the pilot to take off.

"HOLD YOUR POSITION" Robinson yelled.

"_crrsshhh_ blue-six this is red-six package is not secure, I repeat package is not secure"

Robinson: "Our position is compromised, repeat position is compromised, hurry the hell up!"

Hammond: "have that, out." Before Hammond released the 'outbound' button on his radio I could hear a shrill scream and gunshots.

_Things aren't looking good_. I quickly pushed the thought out of my mind and kept firing.

The mob was 60 meters away now and closing in quickly. I pulled out a CS gas grenade and Eric followed suit, we threw it into the crowd which was now 50 meters away. _That oughta slow them down_. 3 seconds later they were staggering through the smoke and towards us again.

_These bastards won't stay down!_ We were losing control of the situation.

The crowd was bearing down on our position and they didn't look like they were here for tea and crumpets. I threw away my selective targeting and started firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

The murderous mass of rioters were thrashing about on the defenders, muffling their cries of pain with their bloody hands, smothering their faces, and ripping into their eye sockets with their fingers. It was a horrible sight. The men and woman that composed the crowd were all of them mutilated in some form or another, missing limbs, and dripping blood from the mouth. _They still would not fucking die!_

"GET TO THE BLOODY HELICOPTERS ALEX!" I heard Eric scream as he fought off a large bald man and shot a grotesque looking fat woman that was on top of a guardsman.

_RUUUNNN GOOOOO, GET TO DA CHOPPA!! _Arnie's voice echoed in my head...

"AHHHH!!!" I looked back and saw a short black fellow with a flap of bloody skin and flesh hanging from where his arm was supposed to be and a blonde woman with streams of blood running from a serious looking head wound, tackling Coy and ripping off pieces of his flesh with their teeth. These people couldn't possibly be human. They were animals and had this unholy bestial look on their faces.

Robinson was supposed to have his back but I couldn't see him anywhere so I shot woman in the back three times with no result, I fired again_ click!_ Shit. Need to reload.

"ERIC!" I shouted, he caught my glance and immediately neutralized the two people on Coy's now mutilated body with two well-placed head shots while I handled my own new-found fan club, a blood soaked teenager and an elderly man.

I rammed the butt of my rifle into the elderly man's forehead which knocked him back, then in one swift move took out my sidearm and quickly let loose a round in the teenager's left eye before he could chomp down on my arm. Then, acting on instinct, brought my weapon up and shot the elderly man in the face before he could get up.

Eric and I continued to drop people from the advancing crowd as we slowly retreated back to the relative safety that the helicopters provided.

_KABOOM!_ A large explosion coming from the Palace caused everyone, including the mob, to stop for a second. Two members of red team were sprinting at full speed out the doors, it was Hammond and Derikson. They looked very badly injured, blood covering their faces and gear and their rifles were dangling by the straps from their neck violently as they ran. Robinson went up to help them while Eric and I covered him. Fife and his two remaining men were on the other helicopter firing into the crowd and demanding that the pilot take off.

"HAMMOND we have to leave NOW. Where's the objec---!" Robinson didn't even have a chance. They both jumped him and were tearing at his face, blood now everywhere as he cried in agony.

I exchanged glances with Eric and we retreated back to the helicopters and motioned the pilot to take off. Apparently he saw the same thing and was already starting his ascent when we got on. The other helicopter was already in the air, but had eight rioters inside the cabin and cockpit fighting with Fife and his men. We were no better off fighting off our own hitchhikers.

"This is blue-six come in over. This is blue-six, is anybody there!?" Eric screamed on his radio.

"Eric forget it!" _Pop! Pop!_ "We're the only ones left, help me with these!" _Pop! _I shot another one. _Are these people on drugs or something!_

People were hanging off the sides of the helicopter frantically trying to get on board but were met with resistance from myself and the few aircrew members that were left.

"AHH GET IT OFF!" The co-pilot screamed, I quickly turned around and put one round through it's head, but as the attacker fell to the ground he took the co-pilot with him.

"Get those fuckers off the side, our weight is unbalanced!" The pilot yelled, straining on the controls to gain altitude, but there were a lot of warning lights flashing and alarms buzzing.

_Pop! Pop!_ Eric took care of the last of the stragglers on the side and I turned my attention to the other helicopter.

Gunfire erupted within the cabin and the cockpit, I looked through my scope to provide some help, but the occupants were covered in blood so heavily that I couldn't tell friend from foe. Blood was smeared all over the cockpit and the back cabin and people were falling off the sides, I was still unsure who was who, but that didn't matter anymore. Something had happened to the pilot and the helicopter started spiraling out of control in our direction.

"PULL UP!" I yelled at the pilot.

"I KNOW I KNOW!" He replied. The blades barely scratched our underside as it went plummeting back to the ground and back to the murderous crowd.

_EERRRVVHHHH!_ The deafening sound of metal screeching against the concrete filled my head. _BOOM!_ The engines of the other chopper exploded as the forward nose section smashed into the earth and tumbled into a ball of fire and scrap metal. I couldn't help but stare in awe at the crash site as the rioters that were set ablaze by the blast were still recklessly trying to get into the cockpit and to the people that were still inside, burning alive.

"Alex help me" ... Eric yelled again "ALEX"

"W-what Eric I'm here." I could barely get out.

"What happened?" I asked as I looked down at a moaning, injured man. It was Coy, Eric had grabbed him and hauled him aboard as we were taking off. He had bite marks and abrasions covering his neck and chest, he had lost a lot of blood.

"Alex get the med kit behind you, hurry he's bleeding out!" He ordered.

"He's losing consciousness, Eric we have to get him to a medic asap."

"I know I know, tell the Pilot to get Hereford on the ra--"

"ARRGGHHH!" Coy jumped up, lunged for Eric's face, and pinned him against the back wall of the cabin, desperately trying to meet teeth with flesh.

_THUNK!_ I hit him with the butt of my rifle numerous times but it did little good. Finally Eric got the upper hand and knocked him down with one swift move of his leg. Coy had now set his sights on a new target, the pilot. Before I could react he charged and took a huge bite into the pilot's right shoulder and then went up towards his neck.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!" he yelled as he tried to keep the helicopter level, but to no avail. Blood now flew freely from his open wounds and as he lost consciousness, fell onto the controls and warning lights started flashing again. _Click... _

_Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah... Everybody had a good year..._

_POP!_ I put a round in Coy's head. Eric rushed towards the cockpit and tossed the bleeding pilot aside. I had only known Corporal Robert L. Coy for two days, he seemed like a really nice person. He was 24 and had a pregnant wife back in Newbury. Oh god what have I done...

_Everybody let their hair down, Everybody pulled their socks up..._

"I don't suppose you know how to pilot a helly, do ya Alex?"

"Just get us back to Hereford!" I said while checking the pilot for a pulse. He had lost so much blood so quickly.

_Everybody put their foot down... Oh yeah..._

"Get them on the radio while you're at it, they'll want to know what happened. And turn that shit off!"

AAGGHHH!! The pilot regained consciousness and blindsided me. I was Pinned against the back seat

of the cockpit and fighting for my life.

_Everybody had a good year, Everybody had a good ti---click._

"Eric get this fucker off of me!" I yelled as I tried to keep his open mouth from nearing my exposed throat. I could hear the chomping of his teeth every time he got close enough to bite, but surged him back.

"Hold on Alex!" Eric yelled as he put all of his weight on the stick.

I felt a moment of weightlessness as the helicopter dipped into a nose dive and both the pilot and I smashed into the roof of the cabin. I immediately threw a knee to his abdomen then threw him out the side door. I had just murdered another innocent man. _Was he married? Did he have any children?_

"We're goin down, I don't know how to fly a bloody helly!" He cried out. Warning lights were flashing and alarms were going off.

Without a word I strapped myself into the copilot's seat and watched as the ground came closer and closer. _I had another bad feeling..._


	2. You're on Your Own

_**1992, Thatcher Elementary School**_

"I want to be a doctor!" Sue said.

"I wanna be a lawyer!" Little Timmy cheered gleefully.

Our 4th grade class was being lead by our student teacher today. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my 9 year old eyes on. Her luscious light brown hair, and alluring brown eyes complimented her fair skin complexion and beautiful face perfectly.

"I wanna be a marine biologist!" Georgy yelled.

"I want to be a doctor." Graham said smiling.

She was relatively small, but had a huge heart and her presence was always known the second she walked into a room. There was always a sweet-tempered expression about her no matter what was going on. I was completely enthralled by her.

"I want to be a doctor too!" Peggy said happily

"I want to be a lawyer." John stated when it was his turn.

Being only 21, she was still getting her teaching degree, and student teaching was a requirement for that. _You can teach my class any time..._

"Ahem, um Alex dear?" Her beautiful voice rang out._ She called me dear._

I was completely in a trance and Eric, who was sitting next to me, had to punch my shoulder to knock me out of it.

"Uh... oh um..." I had to re-gather my wits then think about the question. _That's easy._

"I am going to be in the Regiment." I stated firmly.

She was having us start out the day by going around and asking us say what we wanted to be when we grew up.

"Oh... The SAS regiment? Well that's a challenging enterprise for a young man such as yourself." She said with a lovely smile.

"I want to be... a professional smuggler and bootlegger." Eric said next. We watched an American movie about Al Capone and now he wanted to have his own speakeasy and live in Chicago.

"A.. A what? Oh my... Well that is also quite an endeavor." Mrs. Shafer seemed a little put off and I silently chastised Eric for upsetting my love. After about 5 seconds of silence the 'I want to be a doctors' and 'I want to be a lawyers' resumed.

After class I stayed behind and watched the students trickle out the door, including Eric who apparently couldn't wait for me. _Bastard. _Mr. Glenn, our teacher, and Mrs. Shafer, seemingly oblivious to my presence started talking. Mr. Glenn was in his 40s, he was bald and a little overweight, I didn't like him at all.

"So how did I do?" Mrs. Shafer asked.

"Not bad for your first try, I've seen a lot worse." Mr. Glenn said.

"I am a bit worried about Eric now though.. not the best of---" He started.

"Oh don't worry they're only 9 and 10 years old, it's just a phase, he's a bright kid, I'm sure he'll find something good to do." She interrupted.

"So... what are you doing tonight?" He asked in a hushed voice.

By this time I had snuck out the door and out of sight in the hallway, but decided to stay within earshot to see where this was leading. I peeked around the corner to get a better look. I saw Mr. Glenn approaching her slowly and she seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Mr... Glenn..--"

"Please, call me Oliver."

"Um... Oliver, you're married..." She started.

"No no don't worry about that..."

_How did this creep ever get a job teaching 4th graders? _Seeing my damsel in distress I walked in and slammed my books on the desk as hard as I could. Both of them looked very startled, Mrs. Shafer almost relieved.

"Hello, I need some help with this, Mrs. Shafer could you?" I asked.

"Oh.. Of course dear." She said, looking almost relieved and followed me out the door and into the hallway.

"So, what is it ya need help with?"

"Oh I uh... I don't need help anymore." I replied.

"Oh so---"

"Ey Alex, there you are, come on we're gonna start." Eric interrupted.

He was referring to the football game we always played during lunch hour and after school. I would always play midfield since I was the fastest and could outlast anyone. Eric was unparalleled in goal scoring though.

"Yeah I'll be there in a minute mate." I replied.

"Ugh fine hurry it up or you'll be sidelined!" Eric yelled and ran back out to the field.

With that, I gave a nod and a smile to Mrs. Shafer and ran out the door to join my friends.

_**Day 1, 11:00 am, somewhere in the Aldenham Park**_

_Smoke... Fire..._

I let out a cough as I tried to take in air, but my lungs protested and I let out another hacking cough. There was smoke everywhere and the fire was growing, I had to get Eric. Oh god Eric, _how long had I been unconscious?_

I tried to raise him on my radio. _Click..._

"Eric come in, Eric come in damnit!"

_Click... _"Eric, ugh bollocks!"

"ERIC!" I yelled out and looked around. I went over to the cockpit side of the helicopter. _No one there,_ Then scanned the surrounding area. There was a still form laying about 20 meters from the crash site...

"ERIC!" I called out again and rushed over to him. _Come on Eric, it's only a scratch..._

"A-alex... what... happened?"

"We crashed mate, your damn flying skills need some improvement."

He laughed. That was good.

"We have to get out of here, where's your weapon?"

"I don't know, I think it's still in the cockpit shit."

I did a quick inventory check myself and saw that I still had my G36 in working order

and only two mags left. Eric got up mumbling something I couldn't make out and slowly made his way towards the burning helicopter.

"My sidearm is still good, I've only got 2 mags left though. How are you looking?"

"I'm fine, I've got 3 mags for the SIG and 2 mags for the G36."

I looked around the crash site and determined we were in a grassy park, no immediate

danger, but I didn't know how long it would last.

"aahh ow ouch!" Eric squealed

"What the fuck are you doing?" turning to Eric I saw that he had fished the radio out of the

now burning cockpit and was messing around with it.

"Hey I got the radio, I think it still works."

While he fiddled with the radio I did a more thorough inspection of the vicinity. I determined we were in some kind of secluded area of a park. I also determined, without a doubt, the rioters had seen our little fireworks display and would be here shortly. We couldn't waste any time, we had to move. Making my way back to Eric, I could see he had he radio back in working order.

"HQ this is blue-six come in over. HQ this is blue-six over"

Nothing.

"HQ this is blue-six co--"

"_crrsshh _blue-si-- this--- we are--- overrun--- rioters _crrsshhh_--- HQ no lon--- _crrsshhh_"

"Hereford please repeat that, over"

"_crrsshhh_ blue--- situa--- char--fo-- ove--_crshhh_"

"_crrshhh_ blue-six we ca--- unable to--- _crrshhh_ you're on your own--- _crrsshhh_"

_You're on your own._

"Shit, they got to Hereford. What the bloody hell we supposed to do now eh?" I was pacing back and fourth trying to come up with a plan.

"Calm yourself, we're still in the crapper here, we should probably get going asap." Eric said.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Let's concentrate on just getting out of the city then we'll figure out what comes next." I replied.

"Salvage anything from the helly?" I asked.

"Nah, everything is too badly broken up in there, this radio is complete rubbish now." He said with a kick.

I felt movement in my stomach and it tensed up. I could feel hot, bitter tasting liquid coming up my throat and turned as fast as I could and puked my guts out. _Those people eating other people... _More puke flew freely out of my throat. _The people burning alive, Hammond tearing at Robinson's face.._. More puke came until there was none left.

"Ey you alright mate?" Eric asked.

"Ask me when we get back to Hereford... I mean when we get out of this bloody city." I replied.

"Those people weren't regular people Eric, _they were cannibals.._. I mean they were eating other people and Coy, the pilot, they tried to kill us too!" I added.

"Look I don't know what that was but in any case we should get out of here before discussin any more theories."

"Eric! What do you think happened to red team and Hammond!? They came rushin out the doors and killed Robinson---" I started before being interrupted.

"I know I saw it!" He yelled.

"Great first mission don't ya think?" He said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah it's complete bollocks it is." I replied.

I got back to thinking about Hereford and the radio transmission we received. Life in the army had always been a strictly scheduled life that was lived in complete order and control, wake up at 5, do your business, and in bed before 10(when not deployed, of course). With the army there was always a backup plan, a contingency if something went wrong, a regrouping area or something. The cold hard fact of the situation was that there was no regrouping area, there weren't any reinforcements, and there was no one to report back to and no orders to be given. "You're on your own" I kept repeating to myself thinking what to do next. Hereford must be fucked.

"_Shit."_


	3. On The Run

_**11:30 am helicopter crash site.**_

"We should get goin now." I said.

"No shit." He replied.

"Where do ya think we are?" I asked.

"I was headin back to Hereford when we crashed, so a bit North of St James park."

I stood up and motioned Eric to follow me. We both did one last gear check and took anything we could salvage from the crash site, which was pretty much nothing, and made our way stealthily through the park careful not to draw any unwanted attention.

"Alex we should head north, to Manchester." I heard Eric whisper from behind me.

"Are you mad? We can't possibly make it to Manchester on foot, let alone out of London!"

"No shit. We need to get a vehicle, I know wh--" Eric started.

"Then we'd have to go on the streets!" I snapped.

"I know, I can hot wire a car if we find one in good shape. We don't have any orders, and this riot shit might have spread to some other major city centers!" Eric said.

I had two sisters in Manchester. Andrea who was 2 years older than me and Cheryl who was only 9. I desperately wanted to get to them and make sure they were safe. This riot... or whatever it is could've easily spread across the countryside, and in Manchester which was almost as big as London... Well it would be a disaster like the one I just witnessed.

We continued along through the park. We had a few kilometers to cover to make it out and back to the streets. With those... _people_... out there we had to move quietly and keep out of sight.

_CRUNCH! _The sound of a branch snapping caused us both to go down and take cover behind tall grass and brush.

_People talking in the distance..._

_mumbling, more mumbling_

"If I don't know where we are, I can't bloody well get us out of here now can I?!" Snapped a tall man with long hair.

"W-we could g-go back, I think we were uh on Waiting St. when we crashed." A short man with glasses said, he looked to be in his mid thirties and had a business suit on.

"I don't fucking know! I wasn't looking where we were when we crashed I just wanted to get away from those fuckers!!"

"W-well lets go just check really fast. We need a p-plan to get out of the c-city."

"Oy you can go you stupid bastard, all I know is that there are none of those fuckers are here so I'm stayin here, ya got me?" The taller man said. He had long brown hair and was dressed in jeans and a Manchester United jersey.

I looked over to Eric and he understood my, '_cover me I'm going in'_ look and took up a position behind a tree.

"Hey, hold it right there!" I said in the best authoritative voice I could muster with my rifle pointed at them.

They froze.

"H-hey we're.. we're not.. don't shoot p-please" the shorter man said.

"Who are you?" I said as I lowered my rifle.

"My name is Archie and this is Richard" the taller man replied.

"We're not one of them crazies so don't shoot ok?"

"Oh thank god the military is here to rescue us, see didn't I tell you they'd come Archie?" Richard said in an almost joyful voice.

"Rich look at him I think he's just as bad off as us so shut up will ya?"

He was referring to the injuries I had suffered from the crash. My right arm had been scraped up and I had some blood on my vest and pants. I was covered in dirt.

"Where are you headed?." I asked.

"Anywhere but here." Archie said.

"Well, if you promise not to hold us up, you're welcome to come along." I offered.

Archie just nodded.

"Hey, I'm Eric." Eric said as he stepped out from his hiding place. Eric wasn't in the best shape either. He had some minor cuts and bruises, blood on his clothes like me, and dirt in his hair. Eric pulled me aside and he looked angry.

"Alex, what the hell?" He asked in a whisper.

"What are you on about?" I asked.

"They'll slow us down!"

"So we should just leave them? Eric we can help these people, we're armed, we'll be fine." I said.

"Ugh... fine, they better not fuck things up or I'll shoot them myself." He replied.

As we walked through the park with more of a false sense of security I studied the two men we had just come across. Archie, was taller than me, about 6'2 I could guess, with a large build. Blood dotted his shirt and was smeared on his pants. The other man, Richard, was short, about 5'5 with a business suit and large glasses. They both looked to be in their early thirties. When we came up to the street Archie and Rich stopped in their tracks.

"Uh we don't want to go back there if ya know what I mean?" Archie said, I could see he was pretty spooked.

I signaled Eric and he went down across the street and took up a position by the corner of a building and covered me while I took a position behind a burned out car in the center of the street. Once we determined it was all clear Eric started searching for a functional car. _It was quiet._

_Too quiet._

I assumed all of those crazies were in big mobs around the city harassing the police and military barricades and other people that were holding out. We were lucky for the moment and I intended to exploit that luck to take a breather.

"Hey Alex come here, I found one." Eric said, I made my way over to him with a quick glance at the two men still hiding in the brush on the other side of the street.

"Hey, you ever learn how to hot wire a car?." I gave Eric a puzzled look then figured he was referring to the car. So I went to his side and watched him fiddling with the wires.

"Just in case I.. I don't make it or something-"

"Oh don't get all sentimental on me now, we're not bloody Americans."

"Okay you bastard, just listen up, this is a useful talent." I nodded and he resumed his lesson. Once he finished and the car started we motioned for the two men to make their way to us. They were reluctant at first...

_moan in the distance._

"Shit, hurry the fuck up you bloody fools!" Eric yelled out. As he said that I was already taking up a position behind a burned out car. Rich and Archie went as fast as they could to the small taxi that we had acquired and jumped in. Eric was having trouble with the car again.

"What are we gonna do, come on hurry up!" Archie was jumping up in down trying to will Eric to go faster with his mind.

"Oh no oh no please please please." Richard was saying as he bit his finger nails.

"Shut up will ya!" Eric snapped at both of them.

I heard a scream and saw two people running from a crowd of people. Two women. I looked through my rifle scope, one was very good looking with blonde hair and the other was a bit large. The large one was too slow and she tripped. _Come on keep running_ _black hair_ but she stopped to help her friend. In seconds they were devoured by the crowd and I heard them both let out a scream before it was muffled by bodies. _I couldn't save them, there was nothing I could do damnit. _After there was nothing left to for the crowd to chew on, they turned their heads in and started walking in our direction.

They haven't spotted us yet so that bought us some time. Not much though. I counted about 20-30 people, too many to shoot my way out. The gas grenades proved ineffectual last time. The car still hadn't started. They would be on top of us in less than a minute.

_Think I told myself, think._

"Eric, Eric I'm going to distract them away from the car while you get it started-"

"No fucking way Alex, I'm not leaving you." He snapped back on his walkie.

"Eric, that car is our only chance, I can outrun these bastards you just need to get that thing working, keep in touch and we'll decide on a rendezvous point once we're clear, out." I replied through my walkie.

Eric reluctantly agreed. I had always been a good runner, best in my class and in my unit. All I would have to do is draw their attention away from the cars, simple. If I stayed here and put my hopes on the car being started, I risked all of our lives. If I decided on running and creating a distraction, I would only be risking my life. Easy decision really, it all came down to logistics. I took a few deep breathes and a quick swig of water and hopped over the car that was serving as my cover. _I could easily outrun a few city folk, crazed or not..._


	4. All You Can Eat Buffet

_**April 5, 1992.**_

It was lunch hour and I was walking out onto the soccer field to play with my friends like I always did when I heard some muffled crying and talking from behind the PE building.

"_Please.. please I don't have any p-please..." _I could hear a girl's voice from around the corner.

"_Don't lie to me, your dad got my dad fired you little bitch..." _A boy's voice, clearly.

I slowly crept around the corner and saw two boys, 8th graders, holding a girl against the wall. I recognized her as Christine Reid from my class. She was a really smart student who sat in front of me and had short dark brown hair and light brown eyes to match. I recognized the two boys as Thomas and Gerald.

Either sheer stupidity, or courage caused my next move. Seeing those two large boys harassing a girl like that made me snap. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins now and I charged the larger one.

"Hey Tom watch out--!" The other boy screamed, but it was too late. Tom was driven to the ground by my charge and I was smashing my fists on his face like my life depended on it until the other boy jumped on me and knocked me off Tom. Thomas was almost twice my size while Gerald was no pushover either.

"Ger, hold him down!" Tom yelled. The fellow named Ger now held my arms back and Tom wailed on my stomach.

"UGGHHH!!" I cried out.

"How do ya like that one Wright?"

_Thump! Thump! _Tom hit me again. After I felt my organs had taken enough beating, I had another surge of energy and I wrestled out of Gerald's grasp and kicked him in the groin

"Agghhh..." He fell to the ground and looked like he couldn't breathe. Thomas came up from behind me before I could turn around and got me in a headlock.

"Alright you want some Wright huh you think you can handle this you little shit?!"

"Ey! You get off that!" It was Eric. Apparently in all of the commotion Christine ran away and got Eric who was on the nearby field playing soccer, _which I was supposed to be doing right now_ I thought as the adrenaline rush subsided and pain started to seep in.

"Stay out of this Dalton or you'll get a walloping to ya little shit."

"Like bloody hell I will you fool!"He yelled and came rushing to my assistance.

Eric threw a knee up into Tom's kidney and he grimaced, fell to his knees, and released his grip on me. I turned around and winded up a big punch and let it loose. _Thump!_ He fell backwards completely, blood streaming down his nose and I jumped on him. My knuckles felt like they had hit a brick wall, but I pounded away regardless.

_UUURRRHHHH!! _I could hear the whistle in the back of my head, but I couldn't snap out of my blood lusting craze. Mrs. Shafer and Eric had to pull me off.

"What happened here!" Mrs. Shafer asked, seemingly appalled by the view before her. I couldn't tell her even if I wanted to. I was still in a trance. I had never hit someone before, but I felt justified and I had to keep telling myself that to keep from passing out.

More of the teachers arrived and hauled off Gerald and Tom to the nurse's office while Mrs. Shafer escorted Eric, Christine, and me to the principals office.

"Alex what was that about?" Eric asked me in a whisper.

"They were beatin on Christine there. Had to do somethin." I answered.

"I got your back, mate, we'll tell them they had a bomb and a gun and we'll be heroes yeah?" An unnatural plan.

"Are you mad Eric? Where is the bomb and the gun, they won't believe us you cracked muppet."

"Alright alright, I better not get bloody expelled for this shit." He said a bit too loud.

"Hey!" Mrs. Shafer said, looking back at us.

I casted a chastising look in Eric's direction and acted as innocent as I could.

"Alex come up here would ya?" She asked. _Anything for you my love._

"Christine told me those boys were beatin up on her yeah?" I only nodded.

"And that you got 'em off her yeah?" I nodded again.

We entered the dreaded 'Office' and Mrs. Shafer went in to talk to Mr. Rodgers, our principal. Eric went in first and I was left on the waiting bench with Christine.

"My dad arrested his dad... He robbed some store or somethin." Christine said.

"Oh yeah?" Was all I could think to offer as a reply.

"Yeah..."

I hadn't noticed it before, but Christine was pretty. The only contact I had with her previously was with the back of her head and her hand when she passed papers down the column.

"Alex, he wants you." Eric said as he came out of the Principals office.

I entered the room and saw Mrs. Shafer sitting on one side and Mr. Rodgers behind his desk.

"Alex, take a seat... I'm disappointed, you were always a good student, never got into any trouble. And now this?" He said in a scornful voice.

"But Mr. Rodgers it wasn't me, they were--"

"Ah ah ah, I don't want to hear excuses, you broke that boy's nose and as for the other one... well he had to take the rest of the day off." Despite my best efforts, a smile started to form.

"Sir, I think we have to re-think this whole situation, hear both sides don't you think?" Mrs. Shafer came to my defense.

"Clearly the other boys were the instigators of the conflict, shouldn't they be in here rather than my students?"

_RRRIIINNNGGG!! _The bell rang for lunch period to be over.

"You should get back to class Mrs. Shafer." Mr. Rodgers said.

"I'm not leaving my students." She stated.

"Alright, Alex, Eric, and Christine are clear to return to class." He said.

"That is if you're up to it." She said to me, looking over my apparent scrapes and bruises.

"I'm fine."

"We'll deal with this later, and I assure you proper actions will be taken against Tom and Gerald."

_Bollocks you prick!_ I didn't believe a word he said. Gerald and Tom's dads are part of the school board and play golf with Mr. Rodgers every other weekend.

When I got back to class Christine and Eric were already there. I took up my seat and stared at the back of Christine's head. _I never noticed how beautiful the back of someone's head could be..._

* * *

_**12:43 somewhere on the outskirts of Aldenham Park.**_

I ran as fast as I could while yelling at the top of my lungs and firing a few rounds in the

air to catch the attention of a moderate sized crowd of about twenty people. Like predatory animals, they snapped to attention and after a few seconds, bawled in unison and started dashing in my direction. They were about 100 meters away and closing fast. I set out in a dead sprint, hopping over burning cars and dead bodies. I was running for my life.

"Shit shit shit shit!" I kept repeating to myself, _maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all._

_**two minutes later...**_

"Alex? Alex come in." My radio said to me.

"o-oh h-hey Eric, how's it.. how's it going." I could barely get out through my staggered breathing.

"Goin' great, I got the car working, how are you lookin'?" He asked.

"I'm doin ok, got a little over 20 people on my tail at the moment." I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry and I choked.

"Eric, l-let me get clear... and we'll talk... out."

"Alright Alex, good luck."

I had been running at a full sprint for about three minutes now. The crowd was falling behind due to my tactfully turning a few corners, hopping some fences, and detouring through some empty alleyways. I could still hear their primal growls of anger at their prey eluding them. I was ducked in a small alleyway of a 7-11 behind a dumpster trying to catch my breathe.

Seconds passed.

_EERRRHHHH!!!_ I heard the sound of tires scraping against the road and looked up. There was a black SUV swerving along the road, bulldozing the very same crowd of people that was chasing me minutes earlier and knocking them down like they were mere bowling pins, leaving a trail of broken bodies in it's path until it came to a screeching halt thanks to the wall of a convenient store across the street from my position. The SUV had 3 people still hanging on, one had latched on to the windshield and the other two were on the back.

_CRACK!_ The lunatic on the hood smashed his fists through the windshield. His torso was covered in blood and he had the look of a desperate person on his face. _But he didn't look like any man._

The driver, a gentlemen that looked in his forties, quickly exited the truck with a crowbar in hand and started swinging wildly at the carjacker, who had managed to fit his arm through the hole he had made in the windshield grabbing at anything he could, cutting his skin up badly in the process. The two other

'hitchhikers' were already at work smashing in the passenger's side window to get to a screaming woman, presumably the driver's wife, and a girl who looked to be in her early teens.

I made my move.

With renewed energy I dashed out towards the vehicle, hand brushing my G36 to semi-automatic as I ran. When I drew near I brought my weapon up, took aim, and squeezed off two rounds into the men harassing the woman and her child. _Nothing_.

I fired two more rounds at their backs which got their attention and they started running towards me. As one of them jumped at me I threw him over my shoulder and before the other could make his move I shot him in the head. He was down for good, I looked at the other one still on the ground and put a round in his head too. _That seems to work_. I then turned to the third one, who was now on top of the driver, and put a bullet clean through his noggin.

But it wasn't over.

There was still a mob of hostiles converging on our position so I switched to automatic and sprayed a volley of bullets into the oncoming crazies until my thirty round magazine was spent. I didn't think twice, pulling out my sidearm, I covered the family the best I could, but time was running out.

"Shit! Get them out of here hurry up! hey ge-"

"AHHH!!" I heard the man yelling and looked back just in time to see his wife take a huge chunk out of his neck, blood was squirting from the open wound. The little girl in the back seat was crying hysterically.

"Shit."

The crowd was now 100 meters and closing, I quickly swung open the back door of the

truck and grabbed the little girl. Her father and Mother were still wrestling. I put a round through

the woman's head and the man started crying. I didn't know if he was crying in pain or crying for his lost wife. _Probably both_.

"Get up, come on we have to go!"

"n-no I ca-ant" He said through broken sobs. The crowd was now 50 meters away.

"Damnit." I could see it was no use so I grabbed the crying girl and made a run for it. When I looked back I could see the crowd had made it to the truck and joined in with the man's wife in a bloody feast of flesh._ An all you can eat buffet..._


	5. Have a Little Hope, My Dear

_**2:30 pm somewhere in London.**_

I could hear the sounds of war in the distance. Screaming, crying, explosions. The little girl I had rescued was still crying. She had light blonde hair and a light skin complexion and was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Alex, come in, over." My walkie chirped. I looked around and found a safe looking alley and pulled the girl there with me.

"Eric go ahead." I replied after scanning the area for any hostiles.

"Hey man good to hear you're ok, we made it well too, made some friends along the way though."

"I'm a-" I started

"One of those bastards also bit rich when he latched onto the window." He added in.

"Ok, I'm at..." I looked across the street and could see a country house with the letters -Porter's Park Golf Club-

"Alex?" Eric questioned.

"Yeah Eric I'm here, Do you know where Porter's Park Golf Club is located?"

"One sec... Yeah Rich says he knows it, I'll meet you there in an hour and Alex."

"Yeah Eric?"

"Watch your back... out."

I stayed silent for a minute contemplating my situation and then looked at the little girl crouched next to me, staring at the ground with a forlorn expression on her face, she couldn't be more than 13 years old and already she had lost her parents and her entire world went to hell.

"Hey sweetheart, everything is going to be alright. My name is Alex, can you tell me yours?" I asked in a soft voice. Nothing.

"Alright well I need you to lis-"

"Ashley." She cut in and looked up at me. _Progress._

"Alright, Ashley, I need you to follow me closely, where I go you go do you understand?"

"Yes." she whispered.

"Ok, ready..." I said while I peeked around the corner and determined the area was clear.

Rifle at the ready, I started to make my way from cover to cover. I ran from the alley to an adjacent corner and peered around it. Then ran to a nearby burning car on a sidewalk which was across from the Golf Club parking lot and made sure Ashley was still behind me.

"Get down." I kneeled down and Ashley did the same.

There were 3 people walking across the parking lot, and they didn't look _normal_. I determined that with one look at their clothes, and the blood stains on them. After about two minutes of waiting they had passed and after another sweep of the area with my eyes and ears, I rushed over through the parking lot, to the entrance, and looked through the glass door.

"Ok, Ashley, I need you to stay put while check out th-" I cut myself off after realizing what a stupid idea that was.

"Actually you better just come with me." I said after eyeing the parking lot area once more.

We entered the building slowly and I looked down the hall and saw a clerk's desk. I quickly scanned the lobby and determined it was safe. There was a coffee table in the center with an assortment of magazines and a broken fish tank with fish scattered along the floor. There was blood everywhere, but no bodies. I peered over the clerk's counter to make sure it was safe and told Ashley to get under the desk and not to make a sound.

_THUMP... THUMP... _

A muffled thumping could be heard coming from one of the back rooms so I slowly proceeded with rifle at the ready to the door in question. There were smears of blood on the door and it look like it had been dented. It had also been locked from the outside.

_CREAK..._

I quickly did an aboutface and had found myself face to face with a man holding a bloody golfclub.

"I wouldn't open that if I were you." He said with a feral grin.

I slowly relaxed my posture and lowered my gun and studied this man who appeared to be one of the employees. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a white pair of pants with white tennis shoes. He looked like he was one of those nurses that work at a mental institution. He was in his forties and had a receding hair line with a medium build and medium height.

"Calm down in there will you Mr. Sheffield!" He said and gave a knock on the door with his golfclub.

"Oh don't worry bout ol' Mr. Sheffield, he's harmless." He said looking back at me.

"Right.. uh... what's your name?" I asked the man.

"Hahaha... hahaha.." Was all he gave as a reply.

"...?" I gave him a puzzled stare.

"My name... my name is... it's Jeffrey."

"Well Jeffrey... I'm Alex... Uh we're trying to leave the city, you're welcome to tag along." The words slipped out of my mouth, I didn't really want this guy tagging along.

"Who is 'we' and how do you propose we do that?"

"Ashley!" I called out and she came out from her hiding spot.

"I have a car."

He gave me a weird look then turned his attention over to Ashley.

"Well hello there little lady." He said in a spooky voice. She just kept staring at the ground. Things were getting a little weird so I motioned us to sit down on the couches. I made sure to sit between Ashley and this 'Jeffrey' fellow.

"So.. Jeff, what d-"

"Jeffrey." He snapped.

"Right.. Jeffrey, so what is it you do around here?"

"Oh I am the gardener. I take care of the grass."

"Interesting..." was all I could think to say. God I was thirsty, I hadn't realized until now. I got a small container of water from one of my vest pouches and took a swig, then offered some to Ashley who did the same.

_Awkward silence...** 2 minutes later.**_

"_crrsshh_ Alex, you there? Come in." _Thank god_.

"Yeah Eric I'm here, what's the situation?"

"Yeah, uh.. we're gonna be a little late, you see there is this huge mob that is chasing us and a bunch of shit in the way. I need to find a way around."

"Alright.. well I made a new friend and we're lookin ok for now just be careful and don't do anything stupid, out." I said.

"Roger that, Alex." And with that we were left to our awkward silence again.

"Heh.. heh heh heh..." He was laughing again, what the fuck.

"...?" Oh shit I realized Ashley was gone. I called out for her a voice that I tried to make as loud as I could without making too much noise. I saw an open door in the corridor opposite to Mr. Sheffield's room and heard crying.

"Stay here Jeffrey." I said as I went to the door. I found Ashley hiding under an office desk in a room with a smashed up computer that was on the ground that someone had no doubt used to bash someone's head in.

"Hey, ash? Look you can't be wandering off like that, it's not safe."

"I--I... I know, it- it's just.." She trailed off. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulder.

"Look, we're gonna get outa the city soon, do ya believe me?"

"Y-yes I do but..."

"My dad... he was... he was the only person I had left... and my step mom.. she killed him..." She trailed off into another bout of tears. I then drew her close to me and tried to comfort her the best I could. She squeezed tighter and let loose all she had on my shoulder. I couldn't help but think of my little sister. She was about the same age as Ashley and I felt a pit in my stomach at the thought of her going through something like this.

"Have a little hope, dear, just have a little hope..." was all I could think to say while trying to convince myself the same thing. _Have hope Alex, just have a little hope..._


	6. Queen Bitch of the Metro Police Service

_**2001, somewhere in England**_

"I don't care!"

"This is a perfect opportunity for me, I don't see why you aren't glad I mean you were in the army."

"Why not go to college first? You will earn your commission and then you can join as an officer!"

"Nevermind! I don't need your approval." I said and stormed off to my bedroom and slammed the door.

My mother was adamant about me not joining the army and insisted I go to school instead. _As if joining the army means you'll never go to university. _My mother was French, having moved to the US when she was 20 to become a doctor.

"Anna, listen to the boy would ya dear?"

My father was all for the idea, having served in the Parachute Regiment himself.

"Allen, I don't want my boy joining, simple as that!" She replied.

My mother and father had met in New York and lived there for 4 years, when they had Andrea and me. Then moved to England soon after. My mother was very strict in all things familial, and a real hard ass when it came to other matters as well. My father on the other hand was very easygoing and clearly loved his wife very much.

"Alex, come here boy." He lead me to my room to give my mother and myself a breather from our argument.

"Now listen, don't go tellin' her you want to join the Regiment, keep that to yourself until the last minute or she'll never let you out the house." He said.

"I understand." I replied.

"Good boy, now I'm gonna go calm your mother down, get some sleep it's getting late." He said and gave me a quick hug and left.

_Thump! Thump!_

"Come in." I yelled, dreading it being my mother.

The door opened and a black haired beauty came bursting into my room and jumped on my bed. _A miniature version of her anyway._

"So what happened I heard some yelling and you slammed your door?" She asked.

"Nothin little one now go back to bed."

Cheryl was 7 years old and very energetic. She had beautiful raven black hair and brown eyes just like her mother. We had a great relationship and she looked up to me more than my older sister, Andrea for some unknown reason.

"I can't sleep." She said giving me a sad face. _Can't resist that._

"Alright what do ya need then?" I asked.

"Let's go bug Andrea!" She said in an excited voice.

My other sister was 2 years older than me and we had a more than decent relationship. I looked up to her in a lot of ways, naturally, since she was my older sibling. But she was very smart and strong. She didn't let anything get in her way of something she wanted and I admired that.

"Now let's not go lookin' for trouble, I'm sure she's busy anyways. Come here." I said.

Cheryl would have trouble sleeping often and I let her fall asleep in my bed then carry her back to her room. She would say she wants to join the army like me, and that would really upset my mother. _Same old family drama, could be worse..._

* * *

_**4:29 pm, Porter's Park Golf Club**_

_tap, tap, tap..._

I was becoming impatient, Eric was an hour late and I wasn't able to raise him on the radio, _probably saving battery power. _Ashley and Jeffrey were both in my sights, I made sure of that. I secured the building completely except for the room that held this so called Mr. Sheffield fellow.

"Hey Alex, come here. I think you should see this." I looked at Jeffrey and slowly walked over.

He was looking through the glass doors at two people. A man and a woman. The man had to be the biggest human being I had ever seen, he was black wearing a dress shirt and dress pants, he also had a night stick in his hand. And the woman had light red hair a pair of jeans, a jacket, and a badge buckled to her waist.

They were running away from something, and this area of the city was clear at the moment. I figured they looked normal enough so I motioned Ashley and Jeffrey to stay there while I go make contact. I slowly exited the door, gun at the ready but not in a hostile stance. The woman had a gun and the man was just really scary looking.

"Hello!" I said in a friendly voice. The woman pointed the gun in my direction and studied me for a few seconds. The man just looked in my direction and did the same.

"I'm Alex." I said as I lowered my weapon.

"I am Jimy." The large man said as he extended his hand to mine, I noticed he had an accent, _French maybe?_ The woman seemed to hesitate before lowering her gun and offering her name which was also Alex. She didn't shake my hand.

"We better get inside." I said when I noticed the sound of destruction growing louder in the distance.

With a nod they both followed me in. We did all of our meet-and-greets and took a seat in the lobby while I hashed out my plan for our new found friends.

"And once he gets here we're all going to pile in and get the fuck out of this hell-hole." I finished.

"How do you expect to get out with crowds of.. those things, not to mention barricades and other crap blocking every way out of the city?" Alex asked me.

"Well..." I started.

"Alex is it?"

"You can call me Ally" she replied.

"Ok, well Ally, I don't exactly know how we're going to do that yet... just one thing at a time here ok?" I said with less confidence than I had hoped for.

"That sounds like a horrible plan to me-" She started.

"Well do you have a better plan missy?" Jeffrey snapped at her.

"Yeah we get supplies and find a good place to fortify ourselves in!" She yelled.

"We hold out long enough and wait for rescue." She added in.

"What about you?" I looked over at Jimy who was standing on the opposite side of the room leaning against the clerk's counter.

"I do not care." I gave a look at Ally who shrugged her shoulders.

"Look, about rescue-" I started in.

"_crsshh _Alex, come in, over" It was Eric finally.

"Eric where in god's name have you been?"

"Oh uh well we ran into some trou-"

"We got lost!" I heard Archie yell from the next seat over.

"Yeah well... there are bloody cars and shit and blood and dead bodies all over the place, I can barely find my way around London when it's normal!"

"Well anyways we know where we are now and Rich told me where to go, he's in pretty bad shape too."

"I'll see you in a few minutes ok Alex? I got to go, out."

"Wait Eric.. Eric..? damnit."

_**2 minutes later...**_

"It's getting dark, maybe we should hold up in here for the night?" Ally broke the silence.

_Thump... Thump..._

"Mr. Sheffield..." Jeffrey said in a playful voice.

"Who's Mr. Sheffield." Ally asked.

"You don't want to know..." I said.

_ERRHHHH!_

The sound of the car broke the silence and everyone got up to see what it was. Eric, Archie, and Rich came bursting into the room, Eric and Archie holding Rich up.

"What the fuck happened Eric, I thought you said it was only a small bite!"

"Yeah it was, but he kept getting sicker by the hour until he was in and out of consciousness and having uncontrollable spasms."

_BANG! _

Eric and I both reached for our weapons and pointed it at Ally who had used her Glock on the poor man's head.

"He's infected." Was her excuse.

"How the fuck do you know!" I snapped at her.

"The bites." She replied.

"Not only the bites, but any contact with the bodily fluids of the infected will spread the virus, I saw it happen before myself." Jimy added in.

"So are you a fucken doctor now? Does that give you the right to just start shooting people!" Eric was getting really heated.

"He was no immediate threat to you, we might've been able to save him you bloody fools!" I yelled.

Eric and I still had our guns trained on Ally who had already lowered it and turned away.

"Eric..." Archie said as he put one hand on Eric's shoulder and the other on the gun to lower it.

"Someone should say something." Jeffrey put in over the now awkward silence.

I looked over to Archie and he just shrugged.

"Don't look at me mate, I only met the guy an hour before we ran into you two. I think he was an insurance salesman or something and he had an ex-wife."

"Eric... help me with this." I said, he got the hint and helped me move Richard's body to the empty room with the broken computer and we shut the door. And that was the end of Richard, the insurance salesman with an ex-wife.

"Alex, so where the hell did all these people come from?"

"Oh, right, uh that's Ashley, the big black guy with the night stick is Jimy, the trigger happy red head is Ally, and that's Jeffrey... um, Jeffrey is kind crazy I think so keep your eye on him." I said.

"Ok too many people for my liking... so are we going to get out of here or what?"

I checked my watch and it was already past 5.

"No, I think we're gonna hold up in here for the night."

"I don't like that Alex, I don't like it at all."

"I know, I know, but it's better than trying to navigate the city in pitch black ya think?"

Eric gave a sigh of defeat and we both headed back to the group in the lobby. They were silent.

_Thump... Thump..._

Eric's reflexes jumped in and he was in a half crouching position with his sidearm at the ready. Archie also looked a little spooked.

"Don't worry about it, it's just Mr. Sheffield." I mumbled. _Christ I'm going nuts._

"Oh... well ok then..."

"There's a more secure room back here if you would all like to join me?" Jeffrey offered in a sparky manner.

We all agreed and followed Jeffrey. As we passed Mr. Sheffield's bloodied up door, everyone but Jeffrey clung to the far side. Jeffrey walked by like it was just another day at work.


	7. Dear Old Mr Sheffield

_**6:09 pm, Porter's Park Golf Club.**_

The sounds of hell could still be heard echoing in the distance. Gunshots here and there, yells, sirens, crashing cars, explosions, and other sounds I wish I could forget. We had made it to some kind of back room that had a pool table, a mini-bar, and some couches and chairs scattered around the room. I quickly noted three exits, the way we came and two back doors.

"We should secure these doors, don't want Mr. Sheffield wandering in during the night now do we?" Eric joked.

"Uh I can lock the doors and we could put some chairs up if that's what ya want." Jeffrey offered.

"Well we aren't staying here long so anything will do." I said in a stern voice in order to make perfectly clear that we weren't going to be staying there longer than we needed.

_**2 minutes later...**_

I saw Eric and Archie talking so I joined them.

"Hey Alex, check it out, Archie here is a chef, he has his own restaurant!" Eric called out.

"Hah, really. What's it called?" I asked.

"Archie's Bar and Grill. Senior chef Archie at your service." He made a bowing motion.

"Senior chef eh? Sounds fancy."

"Oh it is, I make the best grilled steak in all of London... or whats left of it anyways."

"So you have any family Archie?" I asked.

"Oh no, my mother and father died when I was little, I have a little sister in America. I grew up in the US and moved back here when my parents died, she decided to stay in the US. Smart girl, I should've stayed there myself!" Archie had grew up in America, yet he didn't have any hint of an accent.

"Speaking of steak, I am starving how about you Alex?" Eric put in.

"Yes.. very hungry, didn't notice it before, well... I'm gonna go sit down over here before I throw up." I said, the hunger finally hit me in full force, I had to sit down.

I checked my watch and it read a little past 6, I hadn't eaten all day and I was starving. I had completely used up my water and I was starting to get a headache. This day could not get any worse.

"You're not lookin to good there are you soldier boy." Ally started to joke with me.

I looked up and noticed people had scattered around the room. On the far side Eric was still sitting with Archie and Ashley had joined them, they were both trying to cheer her up, Jeffrey was huddled on a chair near one of the exits, and Jimy was looking out a back window into the setting sun. I was in no mood for smartass jokes from this hardass bitch who had disturbed my self pity session.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" I snapped at her.

"So what are you in the army or something like that?" She said, ignoring my question.

"Yeah, something like that." I replied while rubbing my forehead.

"Oh so where are the rest of your friends then? Where's our rescue?"

"We're it, no one else is coming now leave me the fuck alone." I was getting irritated.

"I'm sorry..." I started, realizing how rude I was. I'm not normally a jackass to people.

"I'm just thirsty, hungry, tired, my head is killing me, and I'm having a shitty day."

"Aren't we all?" She said in an understanding voice.

"So what is it you do anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, I am Chief Inspector Alexandra Rorke, at your service." she said pointing to her badge.

"What about your friend?" I questioned.

"Oh Jimy? Well he saved my life, you see these two men were chasing me down the street after my car crashed and he just jumped out of a window and bashed their heads in."

"He lost his family ya know... had to kill them because they turned..." She added in a whisper.

"And what about your friends. Eric, that's Ashley right? And Archie and Jeffrey? That jeffrey guy creeps me out..."

"Well Eric has basically the same story as me-" I was explaining before Ally interrupted.

"And you haven't exactly told me your story yet..."

"Right... well anyways we came across Archie and Richard... you know Rich, the guy you shot? Well anyways we ran into them at a park, don't really know his story other than he's a chef. Ashley... well Ashley watched her parent's get ripped to shreds by rioters. And Jeffrey, well don't call him Jeff and watch your back around him. That's it, now we're all one big happy family!"

I said this as I slapped my palms on my knees in anger and got up. I motioned Eric to join me and we did a quick equipment check. He only had one mag for his P226 so I gave him my 2 of my 3 remaining mags. And I only had 30 rounds for the G36.

"Hey Ally how are you looking with your Glock?" I asked.

"Ohhh... I've got 2 mags not including the one that's loaded right now." She said after checking.

"Shit... well anyone here hungry?"

At that everyone but Jeffrey looked up, even Ashley and Jimy looked interested. Jeffrey was drinking some alcoholic beverage from the mini-bar, the fool.

"Well I saw a vending machine in the front with some chips and drinks, what do ya say?" I asked the group.

"I'll go." Ally was the first to volunteer.

Eric, Ally, Jimy and I were going. I made Archie stay back with Ashley because I just didn't feel right leaving her alone with Jeffrey. I offered my sidearm with one mag to Jimy, but he refused saying he didn't feel comfortable around guns.

"Alright guys, I can hear those things out there, I don't know if they made it through the door or not, but we goto be quiet, Alex you take lead, I'll cover you, Ally and Jimy shadow us and take up the rear, be as quiet as you can." Eric laid out a nice plan so we went to it.

I went out first covered by Eric. Then he went while I covered him, Ally and Jimy followed close by. Corner by corner, room by room we secured the building once again and made our way to the vending machines.

"Anyone have a coin?" I joked, no one laughed.

_CRACK!_ The sound of the glass breaking when I hit the machine with the butt of my rifle was a bit louder than I would have liked...

_groan..._

_THUMP... THUMP..._

"What the fuck, Eric watch the door." Eric followed my order and covered us while Jimy and Ally filled their arms with drinks and snacks.

"_Mr. Sheffield... what did I tell you.._." I heard Jeffrey's voice saying in the distance.

"What is that fucker up to." I whispered to Eric.

We gathered our supplies and headed back to the back room as fast as we could. I could see the door was open at the end of the hall and the pool table was in sight, but blood smeared it's green covering.

Shit.

"Shit, Mr. Sheffield got out!" Ally cried out.

I ran full speed to the room and back to Ashley. as I passed by I noticed Mr. Sheffield's room was soaked in blood and the desk was smashed and books were all over the floor, obvious signs of a struggle. Also what caught my attention was one very mutilated body that had apparently been bound with duct tape.

"Ashley?" I whispered.

She came out from under the mini-bar and pointed to the back door which was now open with a bloody hand print on the door frame.

"He chased Archie out that door, I don't know where Jeffrey went." She said.

"Jeffrey said he was going to check on Mr. Sheffield, Archie tried to stop him. They were yelling and Jeffrey convinced Archie to go with him. Archie told me to hide behind the mini-bar."

"What happened then, dear?" I said as I put my hand on her shoulder, she seemed pretty spooked, more so than usual.

"I heard some banging and them arguing again, then Archie came running back into the room and another man was chasing him. I heard them fighting, then they went out that door. I don't know where Jeffrey went, I was... I was too afraid to come out, I'm sorry..."

As she finished I tried best I could to calm her down. We now had a new problem. It was past 8 and already dark. Two members of our party were missing, we were running out of ammunition, and our hiding place was no longer secure. _This was going to be a long night..._


	8. Finally, I Did Something Right

_**UK sometime in 2002.**_

"Damnit Alex, why do you keep putting it off?" The woman screamed, obviously pissed off about something.

"Christ woman, I said I'd do it I just need some time!" I explained, getting heated myself.

"You said that a year ago!"

I was out of ideas, I didn't know what to say to calm her down. Christine and I were having dinner. What started out as a lovely evening turned into a fight. Christine wanted us to get an apartment in the city together, but I hated the city and was determined to put it off as long as I could.

"Look Chrissy... I love you, ya know that right?" I said in the most soothing voice I could muster and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah..."

"And I would do anything for you, ya know that too right?"

"Yeah... but-"

"No butts, I just need a little time is all. I've got a few things going for me right now and I can't deal with moving off base right now."

"NO, not again, that's what you said when you joined the army. there's always something in the way." And with that she stormed off.

I was left alone to my own thoughts. I wanted to settle down in a nice quiet town after a few years in the service, have some kids, maybe a boy and a girl. I would start my own fitness business, those ones that sell health shakes, protein bars, and I would have another section with sports clothing, running shoes etc. Christine however didn't want any of that.

_VRROOOMMM!_

I looked out the window of my dorm and saw her off. I would call her in the morning, apologize, and make plans for another date where I would make it up to her.

_Knock! Knock!_

I opened the door and it was Eric. We were room mates, per base policy.

"Hey how'd it go mate?"

"Don't ask, just don't ask."

"That bad eh, well don't worry it'll get better I'm sure." he patted me on the back.

I hope he was right. My hand strayed to my right jacket pocket. It was a ring. Nothing special, a small gold band with a single diamond in the center, all I could afford with my credit at the time. I had bought it three years before, and was carrying it ever since. I still didn't know the right time to ask her so I just kept it secret, not even telling Eric.

I didn't know what to do. As time went on I saw my dream fading away further and further. I was quite literally stumped. I didn't know what to do... _My head hurts.._.

* * *

_**10:19 pm, Porter's Park Golf Club**_

"Alex... Alex wake up... Alex... wake up man!" I could hear Eric's voice, but it sounded like a whisper.

"Alex!"

"W-what... where am I... Eric?"

"Yeah man, we lost you there for a minute, you passed out."

"I what?" My head still hurt like hell, my throat was dry and I was dying of thirst, and I felt really weak and my stomach was growling in protest, I should've had some breakfast this morning damnit.

I tried to sit up but my head just got worse.

"Ahh.. ooh bollocks!"

"Lay back down Alex, rest a bit."

"Ooohh.. how long have I been out?"

"Quite a while." Ally said from a few feet away."

I saw Ally and Jimy covering the doors and Ashley sitting on the couch next to me wiping off the sweat of my forehead. The same room we had thought was safe now had a few smears of blood on the walls, the bloody hand print, the blood on the pool table and some on the floors.

"Archie, Jeffrey, shit what the hell happened." I said as I just remembered the gravity of our situation.

"They're both still missing, we were going to go out and look for them but when you passed out decided against it." Ally explained.

"Shit... sorry guys, I'm fine now we can go... we should go!"

"No no man lay back down you're not going anywhere." Eric stopped me.

"Damnit stupid bastard bloody hell!" I said to myself in frustration.

"I am going to kill that little shit!" I yelled, thinking of all the nasty things I could do to Jeffrey. _Snap his neck? Nah too humane. Break his kneecaps? Nah. Ah I got it, I'll feed him to dear old Mr. Sheffield!_

Either way, that man was going to die, and I was going tot kill him. As soon as I got my energy back...I had always prided myself on my endurance and stamina, but right now I felt like shit and was the weak link of the group. I hated the feeling and tried never to inconvenience others around me like I was doing. I was putting people's lives in danger.

For the first time I felt my vest and weapon were absent and I panicked.

"Shi- Where's... Where's my shit!" I asked.

"Shhh calm down it's right here man." Eric handed my gear over.

"Ally, Jimy, come join us over here." Eric said.

"We need to go find Archie."

"We should stay here till sunrise, then get the hell out!" Ally said angrily.

"Do what you want, I'm going to get Archie. And Alex I don't want to hear it you're staying here." Eric said before I could protest.

"I will go as well." Jimy said breaking from his usual silent self.

"Well I guess I can't stop you, I might as well go along too." Ally conceded.

"Eric I ca-"

"No Alex, I already told you, you're in no shape. Get those cuts and bruises taken care of, you were pretty badly hurt in the crash I just noticed that now, Ashley I'm placing him in your care, think you can take care of him?"

Ashley nodded, and before I could finish my protest, he was out the door.

"Ally wait, here you'll need this." I handed her my sidearm and extra mags and took out the radio and gave her my tactical vest. Eric had taken my rifle and gave his P226 to Jimy who didn't refuse this time.

"Thanks for the gesture, but I've got one." She said waving her glock.

"Oh right, of course."

"Will you be alright?" She asked as she put on the vest, which was obviously too big for her.

"I'll be fine, one mag should be more than enough if one of those things finds their way here."

"Wish me luck." She said as she put a hand on my shoulder and walked out the door.

"Good luck Ally, good luck..." I mumbled as she left.

"Hey... Ash could you hand me some of that water?"

"Sure." She said.

I took the water from her hands and started chugging, it all tasted so good, although the chips were a bit salty.

"Hand me some of those cheetos would ya love?" I asked. She handed me more bags of food then sat down and continued to enjoy the show.

I hated this. I felt so useless, and I hated being useless. I took some more chips and scarfed it down, then proceeded to empty two more full water bottles. After finishing I felt a little better, I noticed Ashley was still staring at me, but this time she was almost smiling for the first time.

She reminded me a lot of my little sister, Cheryl. She was very quiet and shy, although I had no idea if our current situation had anything to do with it. But she still, definitely had the same smile as her. And I for some reason I felt compelled to protect her with my life.

"What?" I asked her.

"Oh... nothing, I just never saw someone eat and drink so fast before in my life."

"Well, now ya have." I said as I tended to my cuts.

"You know..." She started.

"You know I don't think I thanked you for saving me back there..."

"So thanks." She gave me a small smile.

"No worries love, glad I could be of service."

I couldn't help but smile myself. I did not feel so useless anymore. Amidst all the violence and bloodshed, and all the people I murdered today, I had saved Ashley. I had saved this little girl's life. It made me feel good and I smiled despite myself. This is the kind of thing I had joined the service for, the kind of thing I had hoped all of that government funded training would help me accomplish.


	9. Murphy's Law

_**11:55 pm Porter's Park Golf Club.**_

_POP! POP! BANG!_

The gunshots were close now. It could only be Eric and the rest of them. I stood by the door with my sidearm at the ready. Eric, Archie, Ally, and Jimy came running at full speed stopping every few meters to fire behind them. When they came into sight I could see in the shadows they were being chased by six people who I couldn't identify because it was so dark.

"Get in here hurry up!" I yelled.

I emptied my weapon on the group of people following and took two down, it was too dark but I could hear more following. When they got into the room I immediately shut the door and put my back against it.

_THUMP! THUMP! _

"Shit what the hell happened out there?" I demanded.

"We.. we found Archie hiding, or rather he found us..." Eric said through staggered breathing.

"That bastard let Mr. Sheffield out, then left me for dead!" Archie yelled.

"Where the hell is Jeffrey? I am going to kill the bastard!" I asked.

"I don't know and I don't give a damn, we need to go now, they are out there, the golf course is full of them for some reason." Ally added in.

"We can't go now, it's to bloody dark outside-" I started.

"Well we can't stay here, don't be a fool!" Ally snapped at me.

"Oh now you want to get out huh? I thought you wanted to fortify yourself in? Wait for rescue?" I argued at the top of my lungs.

"Shut up you bloody fools! This isn't helping!" Eric said while handing back my now empty rifle. I took it and strapped it around my neck, I could still use the telescoping stock, and the light mount, and the laser sight looked cool I thought.

People were still trying to get in and I still had my back against the door. I noticed Archie had ripped his shirt and had blood on his face. But Ally hadn't said anything so I assumed he hadn't been infected.

"How are we lookin gear wise?" I asked.

"If we're gonna make a run for it we'll need to be able to defend ourselves." I added.

"I'm on my last mag." Ally said.

"We can't stay here." Ally pointed out yet again.

"They're still out there, I don't think we have enough ammunition to make it." I reminded her.

Jimy handed Eric his P226 back and Eric counted one mag for it. We had two half empty mags and one full one, we weren't even going to make it out the door let alone out of the city with that.

"We could go out the front." Everyone looked over to Ashley who had broken her silence.

"There aren't any of those... things out in the front, you guys came from the back, and you said it yourself Ally, they're mostly on the golf courses. We could go back out front and get the car." Ashley finished.

"Uh that might be a problem." Archie said.

"Yeah, the car is a no go, it's usefulness was spent getting us here." Eric added in.

Great. No car, not enough ammunition. Hostiles closing in. All the makings of a great party. Every thing that could go wrong did just that. This night was getting better and better.


	10. The Great Escape

_**Day 2, August 18, 2005 12:10 pm Porter's Park Golf Club**_

_THUMP! THUMP! _

_moaning..._

Everyone was silent.

No doubt we were all trying to think of a plan. Of the three exits, two were clear. One lead out back to an adjacent room that had a window leading to the golf course. The other was the way we came in. I ran through all of my options. Stay here, risk being trapped in, or worse. They could break in. Leave right now with limited ammunition and visibility we could risk being mobbed, or getting lost. _There has to be another way..._

"There's no other way, we have to take our chances on the streets." Ally said.

Silence.

"Let's do it." I said in a firm voice. I was reluctant, but didn't want to show that. Once you pick a plan you have to commit fully to it, there's no second guessing or half-assing it, one error and you could get yourself and everyone with you killed. _I wasn't going to let that happen._

"Save your ammo and don't do anything stupid. Keep completely quiet." Eric instructed everyone in the group.

"Ally, care to take lead with me?" I asked her.

"It's a date." She said with a smile.

I motioned Eric to take up the rear.

"You better take this back, doesn't fit me very well." Ally handed my ballistics vest over to me and I put it back on, all set I thought. I strapped my rifle behind my back, tightened my vest and got ready to go.

"Ready... 3, 2, 1, go go." I whispered as I opened the front door and we burst through the lobby. I went first then Ally and the rest followed with Eric in the back. We made it to the front door and I looked around, straining to see through the shadows in the street. I could still hear some faint yells and gunshots in the distance, but for the most part it was quiet.

"Everyone keep very very quiet, I can't emphasize that enough. No talking, and do not do anything that might draw attention to yourself." I tried to emphasize that best I could through a whisper.

_SNAP!_

The mob had broken through the door, it was time to go. I threw up a hand motioning them to follow. We went to the middle of the street at the taxi cab, looked around, then crossed the street to a corner and held my fist up to stop the group.

"Ally, you see that crashed green sedan? When I run to it, wait for me to signal you, then bring the group with you." I whispered right into her ear. As I did this strands of her light red hair blew into my face. It had the faint smell of strawberries, _definite turn on._ Focus you idiot.

I ran to the car and saw a shadowy figure walking, dragging his feet as he went, I immediately threw up my fist in a silent order for Ally to stay put. The smoke coming from the car and the tinted windows prevented him from seeing me, but he stopped for a few seconds like he could sense me or something, then he went along with his business. Once he had passed, I motioned for the group to follow once again.

We continued for a few more minutes like this until Eric stopped me from moving forward.

"Alex, do you hear that?" I strained my ears to hear something. Nothing.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There it is again"

"I heard it, a car you think?"

"Yeah, tires aren't screeching so I don't think it's being chased." He added. Eric had better ears than I so I motioned him to take up lead while I took up back.

As I took up the rear I looked back and saw something duck around the corner. _What the fuck could it be?_ I asked myself. The roads were clear save for a few straggling crazies which we easily avoided. _Where are all of them? Were they sleeping? Did they sleep?_ I didn't mull on that topic long, I had to focus.

"What's going on?" Archie asked me in a whisper looking towards Eric who was now explaining our plan to Ally.

"No time to explain, just keep quiet and follow their lead." I said.

I looked back again and couldn't shake this feeling that someone was following us. Were those things smart enough to stalk it's prey? The hair on the back of my head was crawling and I was getting goosebumps and the urge to put as much distance as I could between me and my unseen predator, but I pushed it down and held up the rear best I could.

_vvrruummm..._

I heard the sound of a car in the distance that Eric was talking about. Can't be long now...

Three more blocks of sneaking around and it was getting louder.

_THUNK!_

A truck with it's lights turned off had rammed into Eric and Ally was pointing her gun through the window. I ran as fast as I could to help Eric who only seemed to had the wind knocked out of him then turned on the light mounted on my G36 and aimed it through the window, feeling like it was a good idea to risk the light in this situation. The engine turned off and the driver looked up at me.

"Oy get that thing outa my face!" The driver snapped. He didn't look much older than I was. In the passenger's seat was a young girl about the same age as the man.

"Get in if you're gonna get in, if not then let us go on our way, and get the bloody guns outa my face will ya!" He snapped again.

I turned the light off, and went to help Eric up.

"Aww.. I found the car Alex.." He said.

"Heh yeah I see that." I replied. After I said that I saw a figure running up to us from the back of our group. _Shit_.

"Get in the car NOW!" I said in an almost yell. At that I heard windows breaking and the sound of people jumping over cars. The figure that was stalking us had shown itself.

And he had friends.

Eric, Ally, and I fired into the crowd, desperately trying to keep them back and depleting our ammunition at a fast rate. All of our hopes were on this truck with it's doors locked and engine trying to start.

"Let us in you fucker!" I yelled. The doors unlocked and I threw Ashley into the car while emptying my sidearm into the oncoming crowd. Archie jumped in next and I had to grab Jimy who was bashing two of the crazed people's heads in with his night stick. Eric got in next then I pushed Ally in.

"Go go go!" I yelled as I jumped into the truck making sure no one was behind me and shut the door. I was half sitting on Ally's lap who had her back shoved against Eric. The others were in the back seat scrunched together themselves.

"Get this thing started!" Eric yelled at the driver.

"Oy! I'm tryin man I'm tryin!"

There were about fifteen people banging on the windows of the SUV now and I could see more shadowy figures emerging from the buildings.

"Turn the brights on!" Ally yelled. The driver turned on his brights and there were two people in front that were temporarily blinded. by the lights. The engine finally roared to life. I noticed one of the people in the front was an old bald fat man, with what looked like golf shorts, golf shoes, a striped short sleeved shirt, and a golf cap on, blood all over his shirt and dotted on his cap.

_Mr. Sheffield_? I thought. _Nah._..

The driver stepped on the gas and rammed into what might've been Mr. Sheffield and took off speeding away from the crowd. Mr. Sheffield was now holding on with an iron grip to the edge of the hood and was squealing like a wild boar while bashing his head into the windshield.

"What the fuck is this fucker doing!" The driver yelled.

"Ahhh! Get him off Jon Get him off!" The girl in the passenger's seat yelled.

Jon turned a sharp corner and Mr. Sheffield rolled off. I looked back and saw him get up and start sprinting towards us again. He had long strides and was very fast for a fat old guy, but we eventually lost him. Jon turned his lights off and slowed down a bit to dodge some wreckage in the streets.

"I'm Jon and this is Elizabeth." He said motioning to the woman in the other seat.

"I'm Ally, this is Alex, Eric, Jimy, Ashley, and-"

"I'm Archie, how do ya do?" Archie interrupted.

"And Thanks for the pickup mate." Archie added in before Jon could answer.

"Sorry about the friends we had taggin along." I added.

"Oh no worries mate, no worries, I'm just glad there's someone else not crazy left in this shit hole of a city!"

"You mean not crazier than you?" Elizabeth said in a snobby voice.

"Jesus woman get over yourself! I shoulda left you back at your pad, I'm sure Chad would've liked that, he looked pretty hungry that's for sure!" He said, obviously egging her on for a fight.

"Oh shut up you stupid bastard you-" She started.

"CHILDREN! shut up and concentrate on the road before ya get us all killed!" Ally said in an almost parental voice. It worked and they stopped arguing.

"Um.. hi there..." She whispered.

"What? Oh me? uh... hi?" I said then realized I was putting almost all of my weight on her and shifted on my side with what little room I had.

"That ok?" I asked.

"That's very good." She said with a smile. Her smile was another turn-on. Careful Alex. You have a girlfriend remember? Christine is probably waiting, worried sick about me right now.

"So where are we headed?" Archie asked Jon.

"Tryin to find a way outa the city mate! You wouldn't happen to know a clear route would ya?"

Silence.

"Didn't think so. Don't worry yourselves though, I got a full tank o' gas and if any of them crazy people get close..." He said this and waved around a glock, much like the one Ally had.

"You have any more ammo for that?

"No man, I've got maybe 5 or 6 bullets left is all, had to use it to save this one." He said motioning to Elizabeth who just rolled her eyes.

We were safe for the moment. Jon had six rounds, Eric had two rounds Ally told me she was empty, and I was also out. But we were all still safe for the moment, which was all I could ask for.


	11. I Couldn't Ask For More

_**3:05 am somewhere in London**_

"Take the right, no over the car n-" Eric said.

"No not that way look there are more-" Archie cut in.

"Left, it's clear, no cars." I added in.

"Left is the wrong way we need to go right!" Ally cut in herself.

"Alright! alright! alright! Bloody hell! shut up people please!" Jon yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'm driving, I pick the bloody route, now shut the fuck up!" And with that the car was

now silent.

Jon obviously didn't know where he was going. But then again neither did any of us. The streets were filled with obstructions, 75 of the buildings were burned out and unrecognizable, and the signs were either painted over or destroyed. We had been driving around for over two hours.

Ashley had fallen asleep a few hours ago, Eric was beginning to doze off, and I couldn't tell if Jimy was alive or dead back there, he was just staring out the window.

"Have you fellas given any thought on what we're going to do after we get out of the city?" Ally asked.

"We'll cross that road when we come to it." Jon answered.

"Bridge." I corrected.

"What are you goin on about?"

"Bridge, it's we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Oh right sure, what's your name again?"

"Alex."

"Well Alex, what do you think we should do then eh?"

I should've kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to relay that plan to the owner of the only transportation and a loaded gun just yet. My plan was to go to Manchester and get my family. These people could come if they want, if not then it's not my problem. I was still holding on the the hope that these riots hadn't spread...

"Uh, nevermind, lets just ge-"

"Watch out for that big guy in the road!" Eric yelled.

"Shit I see him! I see him!"

_THUNK! CRACK!_

"Stupid bastard!" Jon yelled back to the wandering man he had bulldozed, raising his fist out of his open window.

"Shit this is gonna cost me a fortune at the shop!"

He was worried about his windshield of all things. The road was clearing up. There were still a few crashed car wrecks, rubble, fallen lamp posts, and your occasional wandering crazy person, but the road opened up enough to where Jon could avoid that. Things were looking good for the first time since all of this started.

"Hey look, I recognize that place." Archie was referring to a convenient store, he said he had stopped there for some drinks on his way to the coast.

"We're not far from the city limits, I know where to go!" He added in.

After about thirty more minutes of driving we came to the highway leading directly out of town. There were abandoned police barricades, road spikes, a mass of cars, and rubble everywhere. People who were trying to get out of London when all of this started...

"Well shit what do we do now?" Jon said, he sounded defeated which deviated from his usual upbeat tone.

"Is there any way around?" Ally asked.

People had tried to drive around, but there were barricades there also. Somehow we were going to have to get around this blockade and I had a bad feeling that we weren't alone out there.

"Jon turn the brights on. It's a risk I know but we might be able to find a way around." I said.

"What if those things are out there and there is no way around?" Jon asked.

"Well then we turn around and find another way out." I didn't like the sound of the plan myself, but we were running out of options.

_**3:51 am, near the outskirts of London.**_

_CLICK!_

The lights illuminated the street in front of us. It was a wilderness of cars and rubble, almost like a junkyard. The vehicles were scattered along the road, there were hundreds of them, with barricades and road spikes every hundred meters. Every car I could see had blood smeared somewhere on it, windows bashed in, and suitcases still inside. It was a ghost town. But the most disquieting thing...

There were no bodies.

Silence.

"Turn the brights off, Jon." I said. Nothing.

"Turn the damn lights off I said, Jon!" He came out of his trance and turned the lights off. Everyone came out of their trance as well after that.

"Eric..." I said. Then I scooted over Ally to sit next to Eric so I could whisper in his ear without anyone hearing. I had a plan and I needed his help.

"Eric did you see a pathway across those cars?" I was referring to a trail of sorts that zig-zagged through the wreckage, a few cars were in the way but they could easily be rammed through with the truck.

"Yeah, but there are at least two belts of road spikes strewn across the road every hundred meters or so. There might even be more." He said.

"We need to move those spikes, Jon can barrel through the cars... and Eric, did you notice how there are no bodies?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty spooked myself, but this is our only way out."

"Alright, you and me eh mate? We got this, no worries heh." Eric forced a smile.

"Ok, get your gun ready and save the bullets..."

"Jon, we need your gun, I have a plan."

I relayed my plan to our companions and it met with silence. Jon gave me his Glock which only had six rounds and Eric had two rounds in his P226.

We were going to have to do this fast, I pointed out the path I wanted Jon to take then explained the plan to him more in depth. When we got out to move the spikes, he would turn on his lights, once we moved the first spikes about 20 feet in front of us, he would start driving through the wreckage, Eric and I would then proceed to the next set of spikes 100 meters down the road. After that, just in case we had any hostiles, we were set to rendezvous four miles down the road, where it was supposedly clear.

"Wait... I'm going too, you could use a third pair of hands, I can also cover you." Ally

said.

"No way. this operation is already too risky enough, you need to stay in the car, in case we get mobbed you guys can still make it through and get a few miles before the blown tires render the car completely useless..." I had to make it an order.

"Don't pull that shit with me, I'm going whether you like it or not." She was too damn stubborn.

"I will go as well." Jimy said simply from the back, no arguing with that.

_**4:06 am**_

We exited the car as quietly as we could, Ally was with me on the left side of the road and Jimy was with Eric on the right side. So far so good. When we got the the first set of spikes Jon turn the lights on.

_tthhhrriiinnnggg._ The belt scraped across the road as we moved them to the side. After that was done Jon started slowly accelerating and we moved to the next belt of road spikes 100 meters away.

"Alex!" I looked back and saw Ally had tripped. I quickly jumped over a green sedan and helped her up.

"I think I sprained it." She said.

"Take this, cover me alright?" I said giving her the gun then running the remaining 50 meters to the next set. Eric and Jimy were already there waiting for us.

_moan... CRACK! _

_Shit._

I broke into a dead sprint now, recklessly jumping over cars and broken glass. I got to the last belt of road spikes and we moved it out of the way. Jon had the car coming up now and I signaled him to turn off the brights.

"Ally, get back to the car now!" I yelled at her.

"What about you?" She asked, I had looked back before Jon turned off the brights and saw what looked like another set of spikes.

"GO NOW DAMNIT!" I yelled at her. _Click_. The lights turned off.

"Tell Jon to turn the lights back on. GO!" And with that she went. I looked over to Eric and Jimy who were fighting off 3 people. BANG! Eric fired off a round at the figure that was clawing at his vest. Jimy was handling the others, bashing through their skulls with his bloodied up night stick. Eric caught my glance as I was running in the other direction away from the car, and not knowing what the hell I was doing, started coming in my direction.

_BANG! BANG! _

"Unlock the door damnit!" I heard Ally yell from the car. BANG! BANG! The door opened and she jumped in.

_Thump!_ Idiot, I was distracted and tripped over a car. When I looked up I saw a figure standing on top of the hood of a station wagon that was right in front of me. _Click!_ The lights back on and blinded a white man in a sweater and pair of jeans with apparent goopy blood dripping from his mouth. I took that opportunity to trip him and he came crashing down on top of me.

Jon was steadily barreling through cars on the pathway we showed him and he was getting closer and closer to the third set of spikes.

_Slam! Slam!_ I had jumped on the man and was bashing his head into the street. _Slam!_ _Slam! _

"Alex, come on we goto go!" Eric said as he pulled me out of my blood lusting trance.

"N-no Eric, there's a third set of spikes we have to get to them."

"Shit, ok lets go, hurry!"

I looked back and saw the truck had garnered some attention. Four figures were outside trying to hang on to the it.

Eric and I ran as fast as we could to the third set, incapacitating two more of those things as we went.

"Eric get on the other side." I told him. He ran across the street and together we moved the third set. I raised my fist and gave the signal to Jon who turned the lights off. The two people we incapacitated were now up and jumping over cars to us. 7 or 8 more separated us and Jon's truck.

"Eric, we have to make a run for it, lose this shit and meet up at the rendezvous spot." Without a word we set out jumping over the last cars that composed the blockade of northern London exit/entrance.

We made our way off the road about 15 meters and were running parallel to it, it was mostly short grass and the occasional broken down car, but the sun was starting to coming up. _BANG!_ Eric used up his last round on one of the two things that were still on our tail.

_**1 mile and about 4 minutes later...**_

When you're running for your life, your muscles get this extra energy, and you feel like your running on air. This is probably due to the adrenaline that was pumping through my veins. But coupled with the lack of sleep, proper nutrition, and dehydration, I was starting to lose it.

"Eric.. I'm starting... I'm starting to get tired."

"We need to take care of this fucker... I'll knock him down, you go for his neck..." He said through staggered breathing.

_THUMP!_ "ARRGHH!" Eric came to a halt and barreled into our pursuer. It was a skinny man with a black t-shirt, sweats, and running shoes on. He had blood trailing from his neck.

As soon as he was on the ground I turned around to Eric who was wrestling with it, I brought my foot up, and put all my strength into a dropkick on his neck. _SNAP!_ His neck broke and we both took a minute to rest.

"So... Alex, think they'll wait for us?"

"I... I'm not sure. I don't think Ally or Archie would let them leave."

"Well, we better hurry, just in case." Eric said while pulling me up and we started at a brisk pace, no longer a sprint.

"So Alex, have you thought of what the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean all these people turning into... well fucking bloodsucking zombie vampires!"

"I.. I haven't really thought about it..." I didn't have time to think about it. I had one thing on my mind, get myself and my companions out of the city alive. What could cause something like this? Is it a virus? A government experiment gone wrong? Aliens? I couldn't think any longer, every muscle in my body ached. My eyes were heavy and it was a constant struggle to keep them open. I was still hungry, thirsty, and my cuts and bruises were starting to open up again.

_**5:39 am, somewhere along the English countryside.**_

"There it is! Oh thank god." Eric said taking a deep breathe of relief. Archie was the first to get out, followed by Ally and Jon.

"Well its about time mates, we were waiting forever!" Jon said in his upbeat, happy tone.

"Oh you know.. made some friends along the way." I was so tired I couldn't even stand.

"Glad you cou--" Ally started out. Her smile quickly turned into a frown.

"Alex, you're bleeding..." At that everyone backed away from me except Eric. Ally pointed the gun slowly at me.

"Alex, I'm... I'm sorry... but..." She trailed off. I hadn't noticed it before, but my left arm had a large gash and blood was running freely from it.

"Stay the fuck back! I'll shoot, don't you fucking... Get the fuck back!" Eric was so tired he couldn't stand himself, but was pointing his empty P226 at Ally. Ally had at least 2 bullets left, if the four shots I heard back there was all she used.

I was so tired now, I dropped to my knees and looked up to the sky. It was the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen.

"Back off... no.. put that bloody thing away... you bitch.." Jimy grabbed Eric as he collapsed, still trying to put up a fight even though he looked as if he was about to pass out.

I was starting to black out myself. I had seen so many terrible things in one day. I had become a murderer, I had seen more death and destruction to last me a lifetime. Mothers killing fathers, brothers killing sisters, and an entire, once great, city collapsing on top of itself, it seemed like the end of civilization as I knew it.

It would haunt me for the rest of my days, like black spots on my mind. How many more black spots would appear before I died? Am I already dead? These were my final thoughts as my vision started to cloud.

As I sat there on my knees I looked upward at my new found friends, the last thing I could hear was Eric crying out my name and my last sight was Ally's beautiful light red hair caught by a cool breeze, strands dangled around her face and she looked like she was crying, she was standing in front of a backdrop of a beautiful English countryside and a breathtaking sunrise.

_I couldn't ask for more..._


	12. I Don't Need No Stinking Support Group!

_**2 am somewhere in the US.**_

_BANG! BANG! _

"Nice shooting." A redneck type looked at me and gave me a nod. He was referring to my direct hits on the targets. I used to be a sharpshooter in the SAS, but that was in another lifetime. I was using a P90 USG. I had an acquaintance in the secret service from back in the daysour organizations would work together on tactics and such. I got in touch with him and he got me hooked up, it still cost me an arm and a leg though.

_BANG! BANG!_

Two more shots, two more direct hits. It was chambered with the 5.7x28mm round which wasn't my favorite. It had good piercing power, but it's stopping power against unarmored targets, like those things... is controversial. _Fuck it_.

"Hey Al, I'm headin out, take care mate." I said to the clerk as I exited the shooting range.

_Time to go to the bar..._

* * *

I pulled up at a decent looking place, _good enough to get wasted anyway_, I thought. That's what my life consisted of nowadays. Shoot and get wasted. I entered through the doors of the place I didn't even care to check the name and took up a seat on the bar.

"Hey mate, I'll start out with a beer."

"Sure thing man."

There were a few pool tables, a bathroom at the end of the hall, and some tables scattered about the room, your typical bar atmosphere with a smoky luminosity

_There are too many people in here. _

"Here ya go." He said handing me my beer. _Fuck them_. And took a swig.

"...NATO forces have since pulled out of Britain since the Isle of Man catastrophe...

click--- And the count is 2 and 1 against Bonds... click---"

"Turn it fucking back you fuck!" I yelled. I hadn't been following the news much, I knew all I needed to know, but this was breaking news to me.

"What you little pig fucker?" A large biker with a goatee playing pool turned to look at me. He had huge biceps and was 6'5 300lbs.

"Why don't you co--" He started.

_CLUNK!_ I jumped out of my seat and slammed my bottle on his head. He went down. Two more men tried to jump me. I threw one over my shoulder and the other broke a pool stick on my back. The guy I smashed my bottle on was still on the ground writhing in pain, but his two friends were now up and had a broken pool stick and a switchblade.

_CRACK! Fuck._ Someone cracked a bottle across my face and I got some glass in my eye. The other charged with his switchblade in a stabbing move, big mistake. I dodged it, grabbed his arm and brought a knee up. _Crack._

"AHHHH FUCK!" He yelled. His arm was broken. _Two down, one to go._

I turned to the other man and threw a kick up to his groin before he could think of what to do. He fell to the ground and received a few more kicks to his ribs, courtesy of my boot.

_**BANG!**_ "Get the fuck out of my bar!" The bartender was wielding what looked like a Winchester M1887 lever-action shotgun.

"GO!" He added.

I got my jacket and exited the bar, the men still laying on the floor tossing and turning. I had some minor abrasions to my face and some broken glass still embedded in my eye. I couldn't see through it.

I turned into a gas station and went around back to the bathroom. It was locked so I broke in. There were three small pieces of glass in my eye and visible blood coating it, I tried to pull it out but the more I fiddled with it the worse it got.

"Bloody hell."

I got back in my car and headed to a hospital. _I hate hospitals_. When I got there I could already smell the blood and death and my senses automatically went on overdrive.

"Can I help you?" The clerk asked. She was a fat woman in her 40s, obviously blind by the stupid question she asked. My face was covered in blood and glass was visibly protruding from my eye and cheek.

"I need a doctor, got some glass in my eye ya see." When I said that everyone looked at me in some sort of pity. _Fuck you._ I guess having a British accent in todays world is some sort of stigma, only a few thousand of us were left.

"One moment please." The clerk said and went to get a doctor.

_**5 minutes later.**_

"Hello I'm Dr. Buns. Can you come with me please?" I followed her to a private room and sat down on the gurney. She was very attractive, raven black hair, a good figure and a bit shorter than me, not that I notice things like that anymore.

"So what's your name?" I didn't answer.

"Well you want to tell me how you got this then?" She asked.

"Bar fight."

"I see."

"uugghh... ooohhh... AHHHH!" I heard screaming from the other side of the curtain and snapped to attention.

"Don't worry... that's just Mr. Parker, he won't take his medicine so we have to forcibly give it to him. Sit back down so I can finish." Her voice was calm and reassuring but I felt anything but.

"Well looks like you'll still be able to see, here, just put in these drops twice a day and you'll be good as new. And here take this, it's a card of a group the hospital runs here. If you have any problems feel free to call or come on by. We'd love to have you." And with that she left.I inspected the card closely **-Healthy Family Support Group- **_Support group? I don't need no stinking support group!_

* * *

_**August 18, 2005 9:05 am somewhere along the English country side, north of London.**_

_BUMP!_

_"Oh that was a big pothole eh!"_ I think it was Jon that said it.

_Cough... Cough... _

I slowly opened my eyes, then tasted water going down my dry throat. I looked up and saw a pretty young blonde with blue eyes looking down at me. It was Ashley.

"Hullo! I thought I lost you there for a second." She said giving me nice view of her pearly whites. I hadn't seen her smile like that in... well never.

"Don't worry, I'm taking care of you, here drink some more water." Ashley poured more of this wonderful, life giving liquid down my throat and I could feel my body being replenished.

I attempted to get up, but I was still too exhausted and noticed my left arm was bandaged. I wasn't dead. Was I? _I remember... no... couldn't be_... I thought as I dozed off yet again in Ashley's lap.


	13. Open Your Eyes, Breathe in the Air

_**Day 2, August 18, 2005 2:30 pm somewhere along the English country side, north of London.**_

It was quiet, all except for the sound of trees swaying in the wind. I loved that sound. I opened my eyes and took a deep breathe of the fresh air. No smell of the dried blood on my clothes, or smoke, or death. All of my gear was gone, no gun, no knife, no radio. Nothing.

_"Ha ha ha... "_

_"That's alright..."_

I could hear voices in the distance, but couldn't make out what they were saying or who they were.

"Hi."

I looked back and was a bit startled. In the very back seat I saw Elizabeth, cradling Eric's head who was apparently sleeping. Elizabeth was an average looking girl no more than 19 or 20. She had brown hair and an eye color I couldn't recognize. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Shh, you'll wake him." She was petting his head.

"You feeling better?" She asked again, before realizing what she was doing and stopping.

"Wha... What happened?" I asked.

"Oh you mean with the gun and all of that? Oh well Ashley came runnin out of the car and stopped Ally from shooting. You were long gone by that time though, passed out I mean."

"Oh... Ashley, where is she?"

"Don't ya worry, they've all gone out for a stroll."

"Are you mad? It's not safe!"

"No no calm down, Alex is it? No need to worry, we're far away from London now. In fact haven't seen a soul for many kilometers."

"Here, have some more water, sorry it's a bit old, Jon's had the box of water in here for a better part of a year!" She said.

"Oh... well... water doesn't really get old, I mean ... never mind, thanks." I accepted the gift and almost drowned as I chugged to my heart's desire.

"How's he doing?" I asked

"Ah Eric, yes, I've been watching over him, he's gonna be fine... say does uh.. well does he have, you know a girlfriend or something?" As she said this she blushed. Eric would get a kick out of this.

"Um, not really, aren't you with that Jon guy?"

"OH! Most definitely not. Not anymore anyways. We broke up... um a few months ago."

"Oh I see... well how did you end up together now?"

"It's a long story." She said, turning her attention back to Eric.

"Well it's not like I've got anything better to do." I said, taking a half empty bag of wheat thins from the floor of the car.

"Ok, well you see when all this rioting and such started happenin, Chad, my boyfriend, kinda attacked me. So I locked myself in the bathroom and called Jonny. My ex. Well he come blazin in with a gun and shootin up the place, tells me to grab some supplies and kidnaps me in his truck!"

"You were lucky then." I said.

"So what's his story, I mean your story, what's your story? You and Eric are together right?" She asked.

"Yeah... uh our story is basically we crashed in London and are tryin to survive, thanks to your ex we're still alive here today." I said as I left her and Eric alone.

I got out of the car and looked out at the midafternoon sun. It was relatively warm with a bit of a breeze. I could also see rain could off in the distance, typical day in August. I started fishing around the car for my things an-

"You're stuff is in the back." Elizabeth called out.

I gave her a nod of thanks and set out for the back and got my gear. Pretty useless since I had no ammo. But there was still a med kit, water container I quickly refilled, and various other useful supplies tucked away in each of the pouches. I looked up and saw the group walking around about 50 meters from the car in the grass amongst the trees.

Ally saw me looking at her and she quickly looked away and continued talking to Archie. Jimy was sitting on a log playing with the grass and Jon and Ashley looked to be deep in conversation. There was absolutely no sign of the mayhem we had just witnessed.

I made my way to the passengers side and checked the glove compartment, a map. Perfect. Only problem was, I didn't have a clue as to where we were at the moment. My best guess is that we were somewhere north of London. But after checking my watch I noticed I had been out for over 7 hours.

I tried to calculate out possible locations, but I didn't have enough info on our speed and direction. We were driving for approximately 7 hours. Since we exited from the north side of London and all of the major roadways connecting to the south was through London I had to assume we were north of the city.

Great, that certainly narrows it down I thought sarcastically...

_**3:03 pm**_

I decided to go for a walk. Eric still hadn't waken up and Elizabeth was giving me a 'go away' look, so I left the car and made my way to the group. Archie was now with Ashley and Jon, and Ally had moved next to Jimy. They didn't seem to be talking.

Hmm I guess it's not or never I thought to myself as I made my way over to Ally to talk to her, she looked up and before I got within 20 meters quickly walked away in the opposite direction. Jimy watched her off and then set his gaze to me.

"Come, please sit." He offered.

I complied and made my way to Jimy and sat next to him on his log.

"Please forgive her, she is feeling very guilty, I think you can understand." He said.

"I still don't know what happened... care to fill me in on the details?"

"When Ally was pointing the gun at you, Ashley ran out and stopped her. After closer inspection we had found that your wound was not caused by any bite, perhaps you cut your arm on a piece of glass."

"That is the reason she is feeling so guilty." He finished his explanation and glanced over to her.

I stayed silent.

"When I came across her, it was a few blocks from the police center. I had heard from other survivors that it was hit badly. They had taken in the wounded and other survivors-"

"And the survivors turned on them..." I finished for him.

"Indeed. Everyone that didn't get out had died. Except for Ally. All she told me was that she managed to escape in a car. She crashed a few blocks away and was running from a few infected, that's when I found her."

"Alex, she is a survivor, you should understand that. I believe she made the right choice, people turn quickly, and after that you don't have a chance."

"And Alex, you both have to put this behind you. It is important that each and everyone one of us completely trusts one another. Our lives may very well depend on it."

I had never heard Jimy say more than three words before now. He was mostly quiet and had a deep voice. He talked with a certain precision, his words were carefully calculated and he had a way of earning your trust with just one conversation.

"I understand. And Jimy... Thanks."

"It is my pleasure." He said, bowing his head in acknowledgment.


	14. Our Most Lethal Weapon

_**3:20 pm**_

I looked over to Jon, Archie, and Ashley and walked towards them. Ashley saw me get up and quickly abandoned her position and ran towards me.

"So ya feelin better? You slept almost forever!"

"Yeah, thanks to you I'm still breathing."

"Well just returning the favor." She said blushing and trying to hold back a smile.

"Ey Alex come over here!" Jon yelled.

"Yeah what's new?"

"Well we haven't seen one of those things, or anyone for that matter, all day!" Archie butted in.

"Yeah, what he said, well I guess I'll fill you in on the plan then, we're heading for the coast. Thinkin it's safer there." Jon said.

"Do you know if this thing has spread?" I asked.

"Well a few hours ago some news stations were sayin it had spread all over the country! And the bloody army was being pushed into France and Ireland! Can you believe it! They're abandoning us!" Jon yelled furiously.

I had to think... I needed to head over to Bristol for Christine, but I also had to get to Manchester for my family. Both major city centers and if what Jon was saying was true, both were likely to be no better off than London.

"Hey you leavin us so soon!" Archie yelled as I walked back to the car.

Ashley and Ally were already there and getting in. Seeing this as my opportunity I made my way over to the passenger's side facing the road to talk to Ally.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey" was all she could say. She didn't look my direction.

"Look... we've only known each other a day and I understand why you did it..."

"And you were justified." I added in.

"Ale-"

Before she could finish her sentence we spotted a minivan driving southbound at a very fast speed. They were heading towards London... what the hell did they think they were gonna do there?

"Jon!" I yelled. He had seen it too and was already making his way back to the road.

"HEY!" I yelled out waving my hands and stepping into their path.

400 meters away now. I was still waving my hands trying to flag them down, but they didn't slow. 300 meters now. The minivan was getting closer. 200 meters... 100 meters. Shit.

"Alex get out of the way!" Ally yelled

I tried yelling and waving my arms one more time before moving out of the way and watching as they sped past.

_vrrrrrrruuuuummmmm!!_

"Where the bloody hell are they going?" Asked Archie who was just as confused as I was.

"It's not our problem... we should probably get going." Jon ushered everyone back into the car. Ally now sat up front. Eric and Elizabeth were still in the very back seat and Jimy, Archie and Ashley joined me in the back seat.

_**6:00 pm**_

I checked my watch and it was 6. Ashley rested her head on my shoulder and was sleeping. Archie was also asleep leaning his head against his window. I stared out my window and noticed we were the only ones on the road.

"Jon, where are we?" I questioned.

"Well I think we're somewhere outside of Petersborough. I can't really tell, I've had to take a lot of back roads to avoid Cambridge and Huntington. If this thing is as bad as they say I want to stay as far away from population centers as I can. I'm hoping if we make it to one of the port cities we can get off this cursed island!"

"How do you suppose we do that, you said it yourself, all of the cities are probably infested with those things." Ally took the words right out of my mouth.

Silence.

No one else said a word for the next three hours, till we stopped. Even Eric had awoken and stayed silent. The sun was going down and Jon said he was getting tired. I offered to drive, feeling a lot better, not quite 100, but getting there. He flat out refused and hid the keys somewhere in his pocket.

"We're stoppin here mate, sorry if ya don't like it you can walk." And with that everyone got out to stretch their legs. And set up for the night.

_**7:30 pm**_

Jon had called us in for a meeting, I assumed to discuss what our long-term plans were. We all gathered around and hung around the car waiting to start the meeting.

"Alex." It was Eric.

"Hey Eric." I said, we exchanged nods.

"I'm glad you're still with us, heh. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Ah Eric I wouldn't leave you with all these civilians man. I'm glad we're here, there's no one I'd rather have watching my back."

"You got my back, I got yours. This shit is pretty serious and I don't think it's isolated. Somehow I don't think things will be the same." Eric said and we gave each other a quick brotherly hug before rejoining the group.

I wasn't lying. Eric was my brother and my partner. He had my back and I had his. We were a team, without him I was just that much weaker. I knew I could get through this as long as we stuck together.

Everyone was here and waiting for the meeting to start. Jon was the first to speak.

"Alright everyone, I want to get something straight here. I've been hearing rumors that some of us want to get back to the city and pick up our families, well it's not going to happen, not in my car at least, ya got me?"

"Uh, I object." I said, stepping into view.

"Ah yes Alex, Archie told me that you had some family in what was it, Manchester? Well I'm only gonna say this once, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN." He stated in a stern voice.

"And what else do you have in mind hotshot?" Ally asked.

"UH.. staying away from cities!"

"Jon, we need bloody supplies or we'll starve!" Eric had jumped into the conversation now.

"I'm heading to Manchester with or without you, I would appreciate help in maybe acquiring another car, but if you can't do that then piss off." I said as I started to walk away.

Jimy stopped me and brought me back into the group. Archie and Ashley were in the very back seat observing. Elizabeth was in the passenger's seat. Jon was standing in the driver's side doorway, and Eric was on the other side of the car sitting behind the passengers side seat.

"Alex, please wait." Jimy pulled me back.

"Jon, I insist you hear him out. If we want to survive this we need to stick together."

"Alright, Jimy is it? I'll hear his plan, doesn't mean I'm going to follow him though, I'm my own leader."

_Leader._ I don't ever recall being referred to as a leader. If anyone in this group was our leader I thought it was Ally. She was strong, a survivor, did what needed to be done. But none of it mattered, this group wasn't the type to accept any leaders.

"My girlfriend is in Bristol, my family is in Manchester. I... I don't really have a plan for it."

"HAH! Manchester and Bristol eh? They are likely to be dead you bloody fool." Jon was starting to piss me off. I know at least 30 different ways to kill a man, and that was just with my bare hands. _Watch it you bastard._

"Like I said, I'm going with or without your help." Eric would come with me I knew that, they were just as much his family as they are mine.

I had done a lot of hiking and navigation in my day, but that's just part of being in the army and a part of the British special forces community. If I had to trek across the entirety of Britain to keep my family safe, I was up for the challenge. The only problem I faced was lack of supplies.

"By all means then go! Go get yourself killed and eaten by those fucken things!" Jon yelled in my face.

"Alright, good luck surviving on five bags of chips and three water bottles till rescue comes-" I started to say.

"Now wait a minute guys, stop fighting we can fig-" Ally cut in

"It's not use, let them have at it, and yell louder please so every flesh eating crazy person in England will hear you!" Archie entered the conversation, or should I say argument.

"QUIET!" Jimy cut in himself. And when he spoke, people listened.

"Look." Jimy to a flashing light about 4 kilometers down the road.

I went in the SUV, fished out my G36, and looked through my telescoping sight and saw a farmhouse. A light was clicking on and off in a pattern.

"Hey Eric take a look at this and tell me what you think." I said handing the rifle over to Eric.

"I see it Alex, you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" He asked.

"Yeah... looks like morse code." dit-dit-dit-dash-dash-dash-dit-dit-dit like pattern, morse code for SOS.

"It means SOS." Eric informed the group.

"So what do we do?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well they're obviously in trouble, maybe they're under attack from people that are infected?" Ally said.

"We have to help them." I replied.

"We only have two bullets! I'm not risking my life for complete strangers mate, you can go on your own, save the world or do whatever the bloody hell you want, I'm staying right here." Jon made his reservations clear.

"Eric, you with me on this?" I asked.

"Always."

"I'll go too." Ally volunteered.

"Count me in!" Archie said.

I looked over to Jimy who silently nodded his agreement. Ashley wanted to come, but I wouldn't hear it. Elizabeth also wanted to go too, obviously wanting to impress Eric. It was set, we had the people, now we needed a plan.

We all gathered what little gear we had and started walking towards the people in trouble. I signaled back that we understood their message, but they kept flashing. About 30 seconds later however, the light jerked and waved around in the night sky and then shut off.

"Eric.."

"Yeah I see it Alex."

"What do we do now?" Ally questioned.

"Keep going. At the very least there might be supplies that can help us." I said. _Hopefully there aren't too many of them.._.

We had to formulate a plan. It was getting dark and not the ideal time to pull something like this off, but those people might not have much time. We only had about 30-50 minutes before we got to the house, walking at our brisk pace, to come up with a viable plan. We had no weapons. One flashlight on my empty G36, one night stick, and our determination and experience.

But most importantly we had the thing that separated us from those animals, the most lethal weapon in our arsenal. Our measure of intelligence, our mental capacity, our compass of mind...

_Our resourcefulness..._


	15. 2140

_**8:50 pm a farmhouse a few kilometers outside of Petersborough.**_

I threw my fist up and ordered the group to stop. We were 400 meters away from the farmhouse now and I could see movement as well as hear some thumping. I didn't want to risk turning my light on, these things seemed to be attracted to light. Just as well I tried to keep the group quiet, since that set them off on a rampage too.

Now that we had designated a staging area, we set out on some reconnaissance. Eric took Jimy with him and I chose Ally over Archie and Elizabeth, who elected themselves to guard camp. We were to scout out a semicircle going left and Eric would take up the other half to the right. We needed intel on how many hostiles were present, and if there were any useful features in the terrain that could be used to our Benefit.

"So Eric tells me you guys were in the SAS?" Ally whispered. _were_. I was irked that she referred to it in the past tense.

"We _are_ in the SAS. 21st Regiment."

"Right, so were you guys in London to rescue people or help with suppressing the riots?"

"Search and Rescue."

"Hmm, ya know I didn't figure you for a special forces type." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're really soft."

"For a military type, I mean." She added in.

"Well it's the whole shooting innocent people thing that gets to me, I didn't sign up for this." I said.

"They aren't people... not anymore. If you want to survive you're going to have to accept that."

I knew she was right, doesn't mean I had to like it though. We got closer to the farmhouse to take a headcount. I stealthily crept up near a tree surrounded by some bushes and tall grass and looked through my sights. I counted 4 hostiles on the outside, but couldn't get a good fix on the interior of the house, Eric and Jimy would have a better vantage point to gather that intel.

"Let's head back." I said.

"Got all ya need?"

"Yep."

_CRUNCH!_ Ally had stepped on a twig. Great. She stood frozen and gave me a 'sorry' look. We waited about 1 minute in complete silence before continuing.

"Come on, and watch where you're going."

"I know sorry, you think any of them heard us?"

"No we're ok, they would've been on top of us by now." I reassured her.

"You know, you're exactly the type I would've expected for a cop." I said responding to our earlier conversation.

"Hows that?"

"Well, you're a badass, and definitely no pushover." I explained.

"Well you seem to think very highly of me..."

"I do."

Before I knew it we were back at our staging area. I hadn't noticed and I chastised myself for it. I should've been completely focusing on the task at hand, not chatting with Ally. We were lucky we didn't wander out in the open.

"Elizabeth, Archie, they get back yet?" I asked.

"Nope." Elizabeth said before getting back to conversing with Archie.

"Ya know maybe after we get outa all this I can cook ya dinner sometime eh?" Archie said.

"I'd like that, make me some of that famous steak of yours?" Elizabeth replied. God how did Jon ever put up with this girl?

"Alex." It was Eric.

"Hey, I scouted two inside the house, I could only see 1 on the outside. They are just wandering around."

"I counted five hostiles on the outside. So that makes seven. And yeah I noticed that too, I think whoever signaled us is hiding, either way we proceed." I said and we went about constructing a plan through whispers.

Elizabeth and Archie were our weak links, so I ordered them to stay in the back and be the 'lookouts'. Our plan was to have Eric and Jimy flank up the right, and I would take Ally with me down the middle to the people that were presumably inside.

If the people in question were still alive, I would signal Eric with my radio one click. If he wasn't I would click twice. If the person(s) were still alive, Eric and Jimy would distract the infected the best that they could while Ally and I extract from the house and lead them to our safe spot where Elizabeth and Archie now were.

If not, then Ally and I would look for supplies then return back here. It seemed like a good plan, all things considered, so we set out on our tasks. I gave Eric my G36 so he could use the light to distract them and Ally had her glock with 2 rounds in case they all didn't follow Jimy and Eric.

"You think this is gonna work?" Ally asked me as we went to our positions.

"Don't doubt it for a second." I had my doubts, but didn't want to crush Ally's confidence. Truth was we were outnumbered, with only two bullets and melee weapons at our disposal. But I shook that thought out of my head. I needed to focus, one wrong move and the plan could become fubar.

_**9:30 pm somewhere on the perimeter of the farmhouse.**_

Ally and I had reached our positions in the center, near the open door of the barn type farmhouse and closest to those things. Eric and Jimy would have a harder time getting to the far side. They had to be far enough so when Eric flashed the light and the things come running for them, they had enough ground between them where they could get away easily. These things were faster than the average person, but Eric and my training made us above average and I had confidence Jimy could take care of himself if it came down to it.

The whole thing would take place in a matter of minutes. We agreed on 9:40 for the distraction to take place and synchronized our watches. It was now 9:32.

"So let me get this straight." Ally started.

"When those things start running for Eric and Jimy, we're gonna bust in there and see if there are any people inside? And if not then we'll have only five minutes to grab anything we can use?"

"Pretty much. Keep it down a bit." I said as an elderly man in coveralls approached our position. He had a lot of red splotches on his clothes and face, but for the most part he was intact.

"When we get in there follow my lead alright? Don't worry about the infected running to Eric and Jimy, save your ammo for anyone that stays behind. If there are more than two I'll take them out with my knife you understand?" I whispered in her ear.

"Yeah I got this.. I just haven't done anything like this before is all..."

"You'll do fine, I know it. You've proven yourself before and I trust we'll pull this off without a flaw." I said. I could sense her confidence was dropping so I put an arm on her shoulder for reassurance.

_**9:35**_

"You know, I had a brother in London when this thing happened..." Ally said softly.

_Now is not the time Ally_ I thought to myself.

"There is nothing you could do Ally, don't worry about it."

"I... That's the thing, I didn't do anything... I didn't try to save him, I was too worried

about getting out myself." I could see she was distressed and now was the worst time to

have an emotional breakdown. She had done so well back in London while everyone around her was

falling apart including myself.

_**9:38**_

"Ally, you're strong and you've done what you needed to in order to survive, no one

blames you for anything and I need you to show that strength right here right now can, you do

that for me?" I said in a voice a little louder than I would've liked.

"I've... I've decided to help you find your family. Whatever it takes I have your back..."

she whispered.

"Ally, I...-"

"Don't say anything, lets focus and get this done. No mistakes yeah?" She said turning her

head back to the farmhouse and putting on her game face. I couldn't help but stare at her.

Things were looking better and I was surprised at the surge of confidence I felt after she

said that.

_Click..._ I saw a light flash on in the distance. I checked my watch.

_**9:40...**_


	16. Even the best Laid Plans

_**1999 back at the old house.**_

"Hey Alex, great party man, where's your sis?" Eric asked.

It was 5 in the evening and Andrea was throwing another party for no particular reason. Perhaps something to do with her nearing graduation. My once calm, quiet house was now filled with alcoholic beverages, teenagers with raging hormones doing who knows what in our bedrooms, and loud rock & roll music.

I wasn't really a partier myself, but I stuck around and enjoyed the free beer. It was, after all, my house.

"I don't know, check the kitchen." I said as I took another swig. My parents were on vacation at the coast somewhere and wouldn't be back for a few days, so Andrea had free reign.

"Alright catch ya later mate." And with that Eric was off on his never-ending mission to impress my sister.

I, on the other hand, would stay here. I was in the back yard on the opposite side of the pool, alone. I liked it that way. My girlfriend of 5+ years, Christine was inside partying with some of her friends.

_CLANG!_

Sounds of fighting echoed from within my house. I dropped the bottle and went in to see what the hell was going on. When I got in I saw one of the senior football players knocking the shit out of Andrew Cox. Andrew was a freshman on the track team with me and one of my sister's friend's little brothers.

"What the hell is going on." I asked Brittany, sister to the poor soul getting the shit kicked out of him.

"He brought it on himself, he was talking back to Jim." She answered.

"He's your brother!" I was amazed at her reckless disregard for her own flesh and blood and decided to take matters into my own hands. Eric who had entered the room seconds before looked like he was about to do the same. Great minds think alike.

"Ey dickhead, get the fuck off my table." I yelled to the 250lb 6ft football player.

"This ain't your fight, back off and I'll deal with you later Wright!" He yelled at me.

"It's my house jackass, and I happen to like that table." After saying that I pulled his feet from under him and he fell to the ground. At that two of his friends stepped in and grabbed me.

Eric saw what was happening and like a good friend should, had my back. He smashed a beer bottle on one of the fellows and tackled the other one. It was just me and Jim again.

"You're dead Wright... I don't care if this is your house you're dead you little shit." He said then charged me against a wall with full force. _So this is how it feels get hit by a truck.._.

I was desperately throwing elbows into his back but it was no use, he was just too big. The crowd around us was cheering and laughing.

"UUGGHH!" again he put his shoulder into my stomach and I had the wind knocked out of me. I looked over to Eric to see how he was doing, but he wasn't fairing well with those two men either.

_BANG! _

"I called the cops, so you fools better get the hell out of my house!" Cheryl had Dad's starter gun he used for races and got everyone's attention. Never thought I'd be saved by my 7 year old little sister.

She had a lot of guts for a 7 year old though, standing up to people almost two to three times her age like that. And saying she called the cops? Great idea, people took off like a flock of pigeons in each and every direction.

"Alex, what the hell do ya think you're doin?" It was Christine, and she looked pissed.

"I'm getting a ride home from Jeremy... ugh." She looked at me and shook her head while giving a sigh of disgust. I was utterly confused with that woman. And it also hurt on a profound level.

"Come on Eric... let's get some ice." I said.

"Alex what the bloody hell happened here?" Andrea looked pretty pissed, and I don't blame her, we just trashed her party.

"Come here guys, there's a med kit in the kitchen... you really do have a knack for getting into trouble ya know that?"

Andrea got us set up and left to see her friends off. Then in came Cheryl eager to hear of my new adventures.

"Hullo Alex n Eric!" She greeted. She had black hair down to her shoulders and pretty brown eyes. She tried to sit up on the counter top but was too short so I helped her up on my lap.

"Hello Cher." Eric said in a friendly voice.

"You saved our lives ya know that, we woulda gotten our heads bashed in!"

"But you can't tell mom and dad, remember that." I added.

"Yes, you told me again and again and again. So what happened, why were you fighting with those big guys?"

"They're jackasses that's why." Eric said.

"Jackasses!" Cheryl started in, _great mom and dad are gonna kill me if they ever find out._

"They were beating up someone I knew, they're just bullies is all."

I explained the situation to her, Eric making us sound like heroes and protectors of the innocent. Cheryl really saved us there though, Eric and I had been in many fights before, but these football players were drunk and being egged on by the other party goers. _Thanks for savin my life little one._

My mind now wandered on Christine. We had been together for a few years, yet we still fought frequently. I was convinced I loved her so I always tried to make it right in the end, perhaps why we were still together. But that look she gave me, like I was some kind of _inhuman_ thing was more than I could bear.

"AAGGGHHH!!" I ran outside as I heard someone fighting again. As I approached I saw it was two more guys that had gotten into a disagreement.

_WWEEWWWW!!! _

The sound of a police siren jerked everyone to attention and they scattered like a flock of pigeons...

* * *

ROOAARRGGHHH!!!

They jumped to attention and stared at the light for about 3 seconds before bawling in unison and bolting in the direction of their prospective meal. All but the two that were inside the house.

"Ally lets go." I motioned her to follow and advanced stealthily. We got to the door and hadn't drawn any attention from the occupants within.

I looked at Ally on the other side of the door and silently counted to three, pulling my knife out. _BOOM!_ My foot bashed in the door and Ally let loose on two crackpots in what looked like torn up police uniforms.

_BANG! BANG!_ Two shots, but one missed. He pounced on me before I could get my knife level with his head and my hand was stuck beneath his weight.

"UGGH.. Ally, ki.. kick him off!" I pleaded while keeping his blood dripping mouth away from my throat. I tried to pull my leg up and get it in between our bodies to throw him off, but he was too heavy and had all of his weight down on me.

"ALLY!"

_WHAM!_

I looked to my side and saw my attacker laying limp on the floor with his head bashed in. Ally stood over me breathing heavily and a log in her hand.

"Nice backhand." I said

"I played tennis in college." The thought of her wearing one of those skimpy tennis outfits and jumping around filled my mind and I smiled. _Now that's a mental image I can deal with._

"Alex, over here." She pointed to a cellar door in an adjacent room.

_Thunk. Thunk._ "Anyone in there?" I asked while banging on the door.

"Hello? Who's that?" A muffled voice answered.

"Open up, we have to go now!" I said as I clicked my radio once to signal Eric. _Good luck buddy_.

It was now passed 5 minutes since our little operation had commenced and I was starting to get worried about Eric. _Focus_. Eric and Jimy are fine. The cellar door opened and 3 people stepped out. Two of them were in uniforms, much like the man that attacked me, and the other was a teenager.

"Who-"

"Follow us now, we'll answer questions later." I ordered.

They listened to me and we exited the building. There were no signs of those things so I abandoned my stealth approach and set out running for our camp. Then I heard a scream. Shit.

"That sounded like Elizabeth. Ally, take them and start back to the car-"

"But I can-"

"NOW." I ordered and she complied.

I went back in stealth mode and headed for the camp. Eyes and ears along with each and every one of my other senses straining to register any hidden enemies before they could surprise me. When I came upon the camp there was no one there.

"ERIC!" I heard someone yell, sounded like Archie.

"ARCHIE!" I yelled back, once again abandoning my stealth.

"ARRGHH!" I looked behind me and saw one of those things charging me, it was too dark to make out who it was, but I could tell he wasn't friendly.

I stood my ground and when he tried to jump on me I rolled on my back and launched him with my boot. Then I got up quickly and pinned him on the ground. My arm was around his neck in a sleeper hold and I jabbed my knife into his temple. Cut through it like hot butter.

"Archie!" Eric's voice rang out in the distance. I quickly ran as fast as I could to where the voices were coming from. When I came to a clearing I jumped over a dead body of what I thought was one of them and saw Eric, Jimy, and Archie running from three psychos and another of their fallen comrades laying on the ground with blood running from his head.

"ARRRR!" I looked back and saw that the body I jumped over was now up and rushing me. Anticipating her vector, I drew my fist back and pummeled her with the hilt of my knife. Then I jumped on her, grabbed her brown hair and drove my knife into her temple. Again, cut through like butter.

After doing this I sprinted in the direction of Eric and the rest of them to try and catch up.

_2 minutes later..._

Following the yells and sounds of fighting, I found myself back on the road. I had passed another dead body of one of those things. There were two left, but no sign of Eric, Jimy, or Archie.

"Ale-" Sensing someone behind me I quickly did an aboutface, while turning I grabbed their arm and turned them around 180 degrees as well, got them in a headlock, and rested my knife on their throat. I was breathing heavily.

"AAH-Alex don't." It squeaked. Shit.

"Ally, I'm... I'm sorry, what are you doing, I thought I told you to take the people back to the truck?"

"I-I thought you might've needed some assistance." She said. I was in battle mode and had almost killed her. It's hard to switch out of that frame of mind once you're in a blood lust especially with your adrenaline pumping and in complete darkness.

"We need to find Eric." I stated.

"Alex... back there I ran across Elizabeth. She had a huge gash in her temple."

Shit.

"You... You're sure it was her?"

"Yes."

"Come on lets go." I started running, Ally a few paces behind me. What had just happened? Was I so out of control that I killed Elizabeth without knowing it? What was I going to tell Jon?

"_click_... Alex, come in, over." My radio chirped to life.

"Eric, where the hell are you?"

"Alex, keep it down, we lost our tail, but those two are still around somewhere."

"And Alex, is Archie or Elizabeth with you? We lost him somewhere back there, we had to split up."

"No. What's your location?" I asked.

"We're down the road about 4 kilometers in the direction of Jon and the rest. You?"

"I'm on the road, parallel to the house. I have Ally with me."

"What about the people?"

"I sent them back to the truck." I said as I glanced over at Ally.

"Alright, stay put, Ally and I are coming to you. Out." I stated then motioned Ally to follow and set off in a jog towards the new rendezvous point.

Elizabeth was dead. Killed by my hand. Archie was missing and probably dead as well. Two of those lunatics were still on the hunt for flesh and the three people we rescued were defenseless as were Ashley and Jon back at the car. _Even the best laid plans, Alex... Even the best laid plans..._


	17. When it Falls Apart

_**10:00 pm**_

"Alex, wait up." Ally was falling behind.

"We're almost don't stop."

We had been running for almost 10 minutes and I hadn't realized it, but I was almost sprinting.

"click... Eric come in."

"Go ahead." Came Eric's voice.

"How are we lookin'?"

"Archie is still missing, no sign of those people or the crazies, you?"

"We're-"

"Alex!" Ally pointed to a figure grabbing at his stomach and stumbling towards us.

"Al.. Ally.. help me." It was Archie.

I rushed over to help him up and took a look at him. There was a clean chunk bitten off his side and his shirt was soaked in blood. He was sweating profusely and could barely talk.

"Alex.. They got me good mate, those bastards got me good..."

"It's alright... I'm getting him back." I cast a glance over to Ally who did the same to me. I wasn't going to let her kill Archie, not yet anyway. There had to be something I could do for him.

"A..Alex... you know what needs to be done... aw bloody hell.." Archie spat out, he was starting to choke on his own blood.

"Alex.. do one thing for me please... I have a sister in the states... give this to her would ya please?" He handed me a simple looking gold chain necklace with a cross on it. "It.. it was hers heh, I took it from her when I moved to England when we were kids."

"I'll get it to her Arch, don't worry about a thing."

"Do... Don-Don't let me turn into... uughhh don't... don't..." And with that he was dead.

I took my knife out and gently slid it into his temple. I didn't relish in the feeling this time. I had just lost another friend, I had only known him for two days.

"Ally, lets go, we've been here long enough." I stated coldly.

"Alex wai-"

"Let's move!" I said and started out running again. It took us another five minutes to reach Eric and Jimy who were waiting on the road.

"Eric, it's us." I yelled out as I saw them getting into attack positions.

"Any sign of Archie?" He asked.

"Archie's gone... and Eric, about Elizabeth-" I started.

"Yeah Alex I know, those things got to her." He answered.

I couldn't believe what I heard. Relief poured down on me like a cascade of cool water on a hot day. I hadn't killed Elizabeth- well the alive version of her anyway.

"We should head back." Jimy said matter-of-factly.

_**8 minutes later...**_

Ally was 15 meters behind me Eric and Jimy by the time we got to the car. The lights were on and Ashley, Jon, and those three people were inside, doors closed.

"ALEX ERIC! They're out there!" Jon yelled through the window and I saw everyone pointing behind me. Wide-eyed. I looked back and saw two shadows rushing onto Ally's position, she was oblivious to the crisis unfolding.

"ALLY!" I yelled as I turned around and started to bound towards her as fast as I could. The closest one now tackled her while the other wasn't too far behind. She hit her head on the rough surface of the road and I heard her yelp in pain. When I got to her I kicked with all my strength on the one that was on top of her and he went flying back.

"ALEX!" I heard Eric behind me, his voice getting closer, but I didn't look back. With knife in hand I charged the other nutcase and brought a shoulder to his chest. He went crashing down, but the other one got back up and was making his way to a now dazed Ally.

"You stupid bastard..." I mumbled.

I rushed back to Ally and grabbed the ill-smelling man before he could jump on her and thrust my knife through his eye and into his brain.

"Alex watch out!" Ally yelled.

Before I could look back the psycho latched onto my back and was biting on the shoulder of my tac vest. I placed both of my hands on the back of his head then leaned forward and threw him over my back.

_tttsshhhh_

With a growl, he quickly got back up and charged me. I grabbed his outstretched arm with my left and brought the knife in my right up to his neck and slid it clean through his throat, then I kicked my right leg out and swiped his feet from under him. He was down for good.

I jumped on top of his still form and started plunging my knife into his chest and neck area as fast as I could. I was in a blood frenzy and couldn't get myself to stop. The body wasn't moving and I knew this, but I kept thrusting my knife into his torso anyway. It became a slushy of flesh and skin with blood spurting out every time I went in for another stab.

"Alex!" Eric had to pull me off. Droplets of blood was all over my face. My fatigues, once dried with blood from the previous day, were now drenched with the person's blood.

"Ally..." I said to myself and rushed over to help her up. She had suffered a minor abrasion to her head, but there were no signs of bites.

"Get in the bloody car! And where the hell is Liz and Arch?" Jon yelled from back at the car.

"They're dead." I stated coldly as I crowded into the back with Eric, Ally, Jimy, Ashley and the three guys. We were all tightly packed in now. The two cops from the farmhouse were in the very back with Ashley and The teenager, Eric, Ally, and I were in the next row. Jimy and Jon had the front. The SUV that was made for 7 people now held 9.

"You... you bloody fools, I told you it was a bad idea!" Jon yelled from the front.

"Concentrate on the road you fool." I said.

"You got them killed Alex, you did it. Damn you, you did it!"

"Quiet!" Ally yelled at him

"They're dead and we can't change that, arguing about it won't do anyone any good so shut up and drive!"

Everyone was silent. Eric handed back my G36 and I tried to relax. I started to loosen up my tacvest when my hand brushed over to my left breast pouch and I fished out Archie's necklace. He never told me how to find his sister, all I knew was that she lived in the US. _Don't worry Arch... I'll find some way_.


	18. Trust is the Basis of Every Relationship

_**Day 3 August 19, 2005, 12:00 pm somewhere outside of Petersborough north of London.**_

"So who are you?" I asked the 3 men.

"We're from Whittlesey, assistant chief constable Ross at your service." He said extending a hand to Ally.

"Ah assistant chief constable, I am chief inspector Alexandra Rorke at _your_ service." She said smiling.

"Well how about that, we could definitely use more officers at the station. This is Oliver, and this is police constable Dan." Ross said.

Ross looked to be in his late 20s, same age as Ally, and had a stained police uniform on. The other man, Dan, looked a bit younger and had an unseasoned demeanor about him. The other one, the teenager was the same as Dan, that is, still too scared to open their mouths.

"Hi, I'm Ally, this is Alex, Eric, Ashley, Jon, and Jimy." She introduced everyone and they all exchanged nods.

"We can head into town, we have a stronghold there and are taking in some survivors. My father is running the station."

"Oh god please tell me you have food and water there, I am going to die!" Jon joined in.

"Yep we have all the supplies we need to last a while out here. Until rescue comes." Ross stated.

"Any news?" I asked

"Oh other than the army pulling out and Britain being placed under quarantine. Nothing much. Yesterday I set out with a few men to find some survivors and we got a call to come up here ya see." He continued

"Well by the time we got here they all turned cannibalistic on us and we been hold up in that cellar for an entire day. They also ate Johnny and Nicolas!"

"We owe ya guys much thanks." He said to Ally. _Hey it was my plan you fool._

We kept driving for a few more hours till Jon stopped. He said he was tired and needed to rest. In fact all of us needed to rest. We had been on the run for 2 full days and all we had to drink and eat was very little water and some bags of snacks.

I took this time to scheme with Eric. Ashley decided to join us and I couldn't stop her. Jimy, Jon, and two of the newcomers stayed in the car, while Ally and Ross went for a little stroll.

"Eric, what do you make of 'em?" I asked.

"I don't know, it seems too good to be true. Petersborough is pretty big, you think they really did hold out?"

"Not sure."

"I don't trust them." Ashley jumped in.

"They smell bad and they sound like they're holding something back."

"We all smell, but I agree with you on the trust thing." I said.

Ashley had a point. Ross didn't seem all that forthcoming with information and his companions were a bit lacking in the talking department.

"Well we don't have a choice, I for one am hungry, thirsty and tired. A nice bowl of hot soup, cup of coffee and a soft bed sounds real nice about now. Hell I'd love a shower for that matter!" Eric said.

"Yeah, just watch your back and stay cautious. I should talk to Ally and Jimy about this." I said

"Ally seems to be taken with that Ross guy, so you better just tell Jimy." Ashley stated.

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right yet again. I didn't want to tip this Ross guy off about our suspicions. Best to keep it as quiet as possible.

"Bloody hell it stinks in that car, I'm not gonna get any sleep in there! Not to mention there might be those things out here so I sure as hell ain't sleepin outside either." Eric stated.

"I don't think zombies are the only thing you have to worry about." I said as it started to rain.

"Damn 2 days without rain and I thought we were gonna get lucky again." Eric looked frustrated. _Smelly car here we come..._

We all jumped back into the car and Jon started driving again.

"So what's your story eh mate? Ally only told me up to the part where she got to the golf

club." Ross asked.

"Well from there we met up with Jon and he drove us out of the city and here we are

now." I summarized.

"Hah, well you're quite the yarn spinner aren't ya?" He said sarcastically.

"Well as for us, the whole station went on alert when we heard about the riots in London

and other cities. Figured the good ol' citizens in Petersborough would pay their neighbors a visit, but we were prepared. I heard on the radio thousands of people flocked to Yaxley, Warmington, and other surrounding towns, we completely lost contact with 'em. So we raised up quite a force of deputized citizens and kept those things out of our town! But it didn't last, ya see people here started to change as well, so we had to put em down. We lost two thirds of the city before we got things under control!" He explained.

"Ross, Ross which way?" Jon asked as he came to a fork in the road.

"Oh go right, mate, that'll take us to the station, we also have a few warehouses by the railroad and the river. We keep gettin hordes of those things pourin in from Petersborough but we held em back so far."

"How many people do you have with you?" I asked.

"Oohh... by last count about 80. Most of them are staying at the warehouses, some of us stay at the station which is more secure and listen for any news."

He continued telling about the place we were going to and made it sound like some kind of paradise. It was now raining outside and it was smelly and cramped inside the car to the point where I put my shirt over my nose and covered the smell up with my sweat.

He told me they still had running water and enough weapons to push back any riots coming from Petersborough.

"So what do y'all think it is eh?" Ross asked. It caught my attention unlike the other mindless garbage he was spewing out earlier.

"What did the news call it? You're the one with running water and a working radio." I stated coldly.

"Well scientists haven't really had a chance to study it, but they are certain that these people are dead and they are in someway compelled to attack the uninfected." He finished.

"Tell me something I don't know." I mumbled.

"Well ya see what I think..." Ross continued to babble on about his theories that I didn't really give a damn about and I zoned everything out and stared out the window.

It was then that it really sunk in. _Virus. Quarantine. Britain was on it's own_. _What would the world do if they couldn't keep it under control?_ _Would they bomb us?_ They already abandoned us on this island, hell they aren't the only ones! Our own government and army had even tucked tail and ran. All of these thoughts plagued my mind and we continued to drive into this unknown stronghold with supposedly all of the commodities that we just only two days ago said goodbye to.


	19. Betrayal and a Place to Sleep

_**Day 3, 6:00 am Whittlesey, just outside of Petersborough.**_

"...and then we barricaded everything up, kept 'em out." My brain was starting to register Ross' voice.

My eyes fluttered open and I checked my watch. 6, the sun was rising and we were near a railroad with a few buildings in sight.

"Stop right up there." Ross asked, and John complied. As soon as we got up to the railroad tracks Ross stepped out and was waiting for something.

Two men in police uniforms, much like Ross', stepped out from some brush.

"Ross! Shit man we thought you turned into one of them damned things, howd you manage to get outa this one eh?" The first man said. He was carrying what looked like an M4- no maybe a C-7.

"Hah, didn't I tell you he'd make it out Eddy? This guy is a survivor." Another man in a police uniform, they both looked to be about the same age as Ross.

They continued whispering amongst themselves while casting uncertain glances in our direction. After what seemed like an eternity they approached the vehicle and ordered us to get out.

"Alright mate, gonna have to confiscate that weapon of yours." The one named Eddy ordered.

"It's empty... why do you need my weapon?"

"Standard procedure with any newcomers."

"Newcomers, we saved your mate's ass back there, no way I'm relinquishing my weapon, piss off." I tried to sound as snobbish as I could.

"I'm warning you one more time mate, drop it or I drop you." He said pointing his weapon at me. _Ooooh did you learn that line from some movie jackass?_

"Hey hey lets take it easy here, Alex just give them the gun alright man, no need to be pointin guns at us, we're all friends here." Eric came to my rescue.

Everyone was looking at me. Even Ally didn't come to my defense so I surrendered my weapons and they lead us along the railroad tracks and passed a large warehouse.

"There any things back here?" Jon asked.

"Nah, they're mostly up in Petersborough, still some fresh meat up there I'm guessin, we get some bands wanderin around here every once in a while, nothin we can't handle though." The other officer whose name was Barry said.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked

"We're takin you down to the station mate, no worries, it's safe." Ross replied.

"How about you just give us our weapons back and let us go?" Eric jumped in.

"You said it yourself, you have no more ammunition, now how do ya expect to last out here with no weapons?" Ross asked.

"We'll manage." I answered

"Alex please just come with us, this will all be sorted out." Ally tried to reassure me, but I didn't like where all of this was headed. I felt like a prisoner.

"We'll give ya a nice hot meal and a change of clothes, how does that sound eh mate?" Ross said.

Silence.

"Well then right over here now. The station isn't far, I'll introduce you to Harry, he's the big kahuna of all the going ons around here." Eddy said.

"Also I don't want any shenanigans." He added.

"Bloody fool..." I mumbled

"What was that?" The guy named Barry said pointing his gun in my direction.

"Ey mate we're all cool here no need to start shootin." Jon said.

"Like I said, we won't be toleratin any shenanigans here." Eddy said.

Ally gave a 'what the fuck' look at Ross.

"Eddy, Barry come on mates lets put the guns down, ya help me get 'em to the station _alive_ and I won't tell Harry you just left your post on the tracks ya got me?" Ross said.

"You bastard, alright fine." Eddy replied and gave me a piercing glare that said 'I'm gonna kill you boy'.

They continued leading us along the railroad tracks and then into town. We came to a police station that was near the river and there was a bridge across the street about 200 meters long that was barricaded by cars and had 5 guards armed with C-7's standing watch.

We entered the police station in the custody of the people we rescued plus the two from the railroad tracks.

"Eddy what the hell are ya doin back here, who's coverin the tracks!" A tall man that reminded me a lot of a British version of Clint Eastwood yelled, he was obviously the leader and his name was Harry.

"Shit... we're on it sir no worries." Barry and Eddy ran out the door and presumably back to their post.

"Well what do we have here Ross?" He asked.

"Two females, four males sir. Found 'em back at the farmhouse."

"Why you little bastard-" I yelled before having my face acquainted with the butt Harry's rifle.

"Ross, what the hell?" Ally yelled at her new friend.

"Sorry, they saved Oliver, Dan and me." He put in.

"Alright, Oliver, Dan get back to the warehouses and put in for a shift, Ross I'm putting these people in your custody, you know the drill."

Harry left to attend other business and Ross lead us to the back of the station, the jail cells. There were about 20 cells with 3 desks for officers. The cells already had about 4 people in them.

"Alright, standard procedure we keep track of all newcomers till we can determine you're safe."

"Fuck you Ross." Eric said.

"You mean till you can figure out what to do with us? I want out right now, give me my rifle and some supplies and I'll be on my way." I added.

"Ross-" Ally started.

"Ally, please hold on. You'll be given food and water and new clothes which y'all desperately need I can tell, but you're gonna have to stay here till we determine you're safe." Ross explained.

"None of us are bitten, why are you really doing this?" Jimy joined in the conversation.

"Get the hell in there or we'll use force."

At that he called in the other officers and moved us in by gunpoint. We each had a separate cell and shortly they brought in some water and food as well as a change of clothes for us, I can't say I wasn't grateful. What really concerned me is that they took Ashley to god knows where, and Ross gave Ally the special privilege of joining their little rag tag militia.

After repeated attempts at breaking out I decided to just forget about it and get some much needed sleep. And I did just that after I scarfed down my meal and depleted my issued water supply. Eric, Jimy, and Jon did the same. _Ah this bed isn't so bad_ I thought. Clean sheets and a pillow, I fell asleep in seconds.


	20. Meet Tom Black

_**Day 3, 3:35 pm, Whittlesey police station.**_

"Hey... hey you wake up. Hey."

"Wha.. what the fuck." A man in the adjacent cell was throwing forks at me trying to get my attention.

"What the fuck do you want." He disturbed my sleep and I was pissed.

I checked my watch and it was half passed 3. Shit I had gotten enough sleep. I saw some clothes on the floor and decided to change out of my once black fatigues that had turned into more of a maroon color.

"Hey mate just tryin to make conversation. My name is Tom, how do ya do?"

"Yeah... yeah I'm just great all things considered." I actually felt really good, food, water, and much needed rest really paid off, but I was ready to get out of this damned jail cell.

"The name's Alex. So what are you in for?"

"Nothin, those bloody self-righteous cops think they're the only ones in the world not infected with whatever the hell it is causin all this shenanigans."

"So you army?" He asked.

"Yeah, well I was."

"I hear they pulled out, didn't catch a ride did ya?" He gave me an amused look.

"Nah, I was in the London when shit hit the fan, my unit was completely destroyed except for him over there." I said motioning towards Eric.

"Ah well... it's good to meet ya Alex." He said then turned back over and laid on his bed.

I changed into my new outfit, which was a dark blue pair of jeans and a tan long sleeve dress shirt that I put on over my undershirt. Ah clean smelling clothes, it certainly masked my BO quite well.

"Ey Eric, wake up!"

"Huh, what, Alex what?"

"We need to get the hell out of here, come on get up." Eric was in the other cell adjacent to mine.

"Yeah... well how do you suppose we do that?" He asked.

"Well I don't exactly know, you see Jimy and Jon around here?" I said.

"Yeah there on the other side passed those desks."

"Shit it's almost 4, how long have I been out?"

"Haha, yeah don't worry not like you missed out on anything, there's some clothes there, get changed man." I said.

He got changed into a pair of jeans much like mine and a white long sleeve shirt with the station logo in the center.

"You know what they did with our gear?" He asked.

"Nah I do-"

"They put all the gear they confiscate in the armory, you need a key to get in." Tom had clearly been eavesdropping.

"How do you know this?" I asked him.

"Well they took my damn Benelli M4 the bastards!"

"Who are you?" Eric asked.

"That's Tom he's... uh.. what do you do Tom?"

"Well I served 4 years in the Irish Army Rangers, came to England 5 years ago to open up my own hunting business A lotta bloody good that did me."

Tom Black was a man in his mid thirties, he had brown hair and brown eyes. A little taller than I and an average build. He was wearing the same outfit as Eric and me, blue jeans and his shirt was like Eric's, only light blue.

"So Tom, you know anything else about this place?"

"No I'm from Bedford, when all this shit started happenin I grabbed some things and started to head North, bastards on the radio said it was safe up north. Then I break down near the tracks ya see and these guys take me in and put me in this cell. I've been in for 2 days and they still haven't let me out!" His story sounded reasonable and I believed him.

"Well we have someone on the outside. Two people I can count on, we'll get out of here soon." I said.

"Take me with ya, I don't care where we go I just can't stay here any longer, I don't feel safe ya know what I mean?"

"Alex, come here." Eric motioned me over and out of hearing distance of Tom.

"You sure we can trust this guy?" He whispered.

"I don't know for sure, can't say I trust him, but can't say I do either?"

"Alex, he's in jail. Maybe he's in here for a good reason?"

"He's in here for the same reason you and I are in here! These novices are going to get us killed. Half the guys we passed getting in here looked like they've never used a gun before in their lives!" My whisper grew into a loud voice which Tom overheard.

"Ey guys, whatcha talkin about?" He asked.

"Nothin' don't worry about it ok mate?" I replied.

"Yeah sure mate."

I turned back over to Eric who gave me a 'don't do anything stupid' look. We would be better off traveling alone anyways. The less people the better.

"So what were you doin when this thing started happenin?" He asked.

"Working."

"No shit sherlock, where were ya and what was your job eh?"

"Oh fine I'll start I only gave you a short summary earlier anyways. Well I was in my apartment, alarm woke me up and I turned on the news. Saw a buncha images of people killin other people, jumping on each other and all kinds of shit like that, it was crazy if ya know what I mean mate."

"So I packed whatever I could, got in my rover, and got the hell outa there. By the time I come by this little town I ran outa bloody gas, didn't have a full tank when I started out stupid bastard, then I-"

"Wait you have a car? Where is it?" I interrupted.

"Yeah man I have a car, its probably still on the tracks, just an empty tank o' gas is all. It's got all my supplies still in it too, a month worth of food and water and some ammunition, I'm plannin on getting outa here once they let me out!"

I motioned him to wait a second while I conferred with Eric.

"Eric, hey."

"What is it now?"

"He has a car, it's just outside of town, its stocked with supplies too."

"Shit man, well can't argue with that, I still don't trust him completely, it all sounds too good to be true if ya know what I mean."

"Yeah yeah I know, he is an ex-ranger so he won't be dead weight."

Eric nodded in reluctance at accepting this Tom fellow as part of our group. If this guy was in fact an ex-ranger he could definitely be useful, and I could use all the help I can get. I explained to him that we were probably going to head to Manchester and surprisingly he agreed. He'd been to the parks there and knew the lay of the land.

"Alright so we're headin into Manchester, that sounds like a shitty plan, but it's up north and that's where I'm headed so I'll give you boys a ride if ya help me get outa this place. After we go your way, we head north though ya got me?" Tom said after hearing all of the details of our plan.

I didn't tell him about Bristol because it was way out of the way. I still had to think of a plan for getting there, but first, I have to get out of here, after all the deal was we get him out, he gets us out.


	21. Back to Scheming

_**Day 3, 8:00 pm Whittlesey police station.**_

"Fifty three... Fifty four... uugghh." Tom finished his workout then got up and looked at me.

"So mate whens your help comin along?" He asked

We had been locked up for almost a day and no one came to tell us anything so I just surrendered and stared at the ceiling. Eric did the same and Tom just kept talking and doing his workouts.

"You asked me that an hour ago... just leave it will ya?" I snapped at him.

"Sorry sorry, kinda want to get outa here ya know."

The sliding of metal doors was heard in the distance and one of the guards lead Ally over to my cell. She had on a new pair of jeans and a long sleeve dress shirt with a police logo on it.

"Hey Alex, you guys doin alright down here?" She asked.

"A bed, food, water, and a toilet all the things I need to survive." I said sarcastically.

"Look, I'm tryin to get you guys outa here but Ross says it's a matter of protocol."

"What did they do with Ashley?" I asked.

"They took her over to the warehouses with the other civilians. Alex, they have almost 150 people here."

"Hey I don't care how many people they have, get us the hell out of here!" Eric snapped at her.

"I'm trying, look I goto go, I'll try to get you out by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow that's bollocks woman!"

"I'm sorry Alex, I really goto go!"

And she left us to rot in our cages. Our situation was looking more and more grim every passing minute.

"So was that your friend?" Tom said, giving me an amused look.

I wasn't so amused.

"Ya never answered my question ya know." Tom said.

"What question?"

"About what you guys were doin when all this happened. She like your girlfriend or somethin?"

"Oh no we were in London and got out together." I said while suppressing a laugh.

"Oh so ya were in London eh? And what were you doin' there exactly?"

"Well we were on a search and rescue mission, tryin to find some VIPs, when our team died and our chopper crashed in the middle of the city."

"Ah, so are you guys SAS?"

I looked at him but didn't answer.

"Hah, I guess that's a yes then. Things are definitely lookin' better for me, you better convince your girlfriend to get us outa here though, then it's smooth sailin' from then on out."

I gave him a nod and a friendly smile then decided to hit the sack a bit early. I had a feeling I'd need all my strength for the next day.

* * *

_**Day 4, 4:12 am Whittlesey police station.**_

"Alex, hey wake up." It was Eric.

"What Eric, what do you want.?"

As soon as I was fully awake I saw Ross coming in with Ally and another guard.

"Alright, Tom, Alex, Eric you guys are cleared for entry into the community." Ross stated.

"Jimy and Jon are already with Ashley." Ally said to me, sounding proud of herself.

They took us outside of the police station, which was heavily fortified, and brought us into cars. We drove off-road and near the railroad tracks to another site, which took about 10 minutes to get to.

Two large empty warehouses filled the courtyard surrounded by high reinforced fences.

When we got inside there were armed guards patrolling the area and tons of people living in makeshift tents, it looked like some kind of refugee camp and that's when I realized. _It was a refugee camp._

"Alex, we're not fucking staying here, no bloody fucking way mate. This place is a deathtrap." Eric was right.

I started to see people as potential infected and a large population like this with shitty defenses was bound to become overrun. If only I had my gear.

"You guys will be staying here, once we get some supplies for ya down at the station you'll have a tent and cot. Meals are handed out every day depending on what we can get from the inner city areas." Ross gave me a smile and left, Ally with him without so much as a goodbye.

"Hey!" Ashley ran up, greeted all of us, and lead us to her designated area.

She had a cot and a blanket. That was it. _Our jail cells were better than this._

"No four star hotel, but it'll have to do for now." She said.

I looked around at the armed guards patrolling the perimeter. Were they trying to keep those things out? Or people in? I didn't waste any time and got to scheming with Eric. We could take the 5 guards easily with the help of Jimy and Tom, Jon on the other hand threatened to rat us out.

The one thing we needed was Ally's help. She was in a position to get us the keys to the armory to get our gear and get the hell out of there, but I had no way of communicating with her.

_**5:00 am Warehouse near the railroads, east district.**_

"This is all I could get, we're running pretty low on supplies and its getting more and more dangerous to go into town and get more with all of those things coming in from Petersborough." Ally said as she brought cots and blankets for us.

"Here are some IMPs too, it's nothing special, but the best we can do."

I grabbed Ally closer to me and told her of our plan. At first she looked appalled, but she quickly dismissed it and told me I'd get used to my new atmosphere here. _Damn_. She left with her new found buddies and we were left to our own devices once again.

"Eric, I'm havin a bit of trouble with Ally, she's not gonna help us I think."

"Alright, I've been thinking of a contingency if that were to happen and I think we should lend our assistance as guards. We're more qualified than any of these wankers wandering around."

Eric hashed out the plan while Tom, Jimy, and I listened in. He proposed we stay here for a few days and get in Harry's good graces long enough where we could land a job as a guard or on the radio in the station collecting news. We were ex-army though and for some reason he despised us for it.


	22. Cunts are Still Running the World

_**Day 4, August 20, 2005, 8:00 am, Warehouse in Whittlesey.**_

"Hello, you must be the newcomers I'm Olivia and this here is our very crappy warehouse." A friendly looking woman in her mid 40s walked up and introduced herself.

"Hello. Alex, from London."

"Well it's nice to meet you, sorry it couldn't be under better circumstances." She gave me a light smile.

"It's complete rubbish I know, but it's all they'll allow us." She added in.

"How long have ya been here?" I asked.

"Since it started. It's been pretty bad, they almost got in here lots of times not to mention the infected that we accidentally let in, but we managed."

From nearby one of the guard's radios chirped and Harry's voice came on saying his ETA was 3 minutes.

"So what's Harry's deal?" I asked, looking over to the guard with the radio.

"Well lets see where do I start... first he let us all into the station, once some of the infected started turnin and there got to be a lot of us, he sends us all to these here warehouses. The kicker is we're pretty much prisoners, see those blokes over there? They don't let anyone in or out."

"Don't get me wrong though, Harry means well I'm sure... just doesn't seem to want to do this., lead I mean." She added in.

An awkward silence came over us for about 30 seconds.

"Well... You ever try escaping?" I asked.

"Hah! Well... I've talked with a few of my mates about it, but we've got nothin to fight with."

"You outnumber them 3 to 1." I said.

"It's not that easy, most of these fools like it here, they feel safe, false sense of security if ya ask me. By the way things are runnin around here I think we'll be lucky to last the week!"

"Well it was nice talkin to ya Alex,but I've goto work on getting the new people settled in, nothin else to do around here. See ya later yeah?"

"I'll make sure of it." I gave her a friendly smile and went over to Eric.

Harry came walking through the door with some of his people and looked through the crowd. They picked out two capable looking men and moved on over to us.

"Alex, Eric, come with me." He stated simply and lead us to a patrol car.

It was a 10 minute drive back to the station so I calculated that it was a few kilometers the civilians to the station. When we got there he lead us into separate interrogation rooms.

_**10 minutes later...**_

The door opened and in walked Chief Constable Harry Wilkes.

"Good evening, Alex is it?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Ally tells me you're SAS?"

"..." I didn't answer.

"Well the SAS seems to be the biggest regiment in the entire world if ya know what I mean."

... I didn't answer.

"Personally I don't trust you, but we're a bit understaffed at the moment." He continued.

"What is it that you want from me? I can shoot a bloody gun if that's what you're on about, certainly better than any of your boys out there, but I won't be herded up like a bunch of sheep waiting for their slaughter!"

"You're defenses are a complete bloody joke, I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did! It won't take much for those things to get by your men and barricades if they attack in full force, you're a bloody fool if you didn't know that!" I finished my rant and felt satisfied with myself.

"Listen here you little prick, I don't like you, but since we're understaffed I'm gonna give you a job with Danny at the station. If you don't like it then I'll throw you back in the bloody fucking civilian population, ya got me?" He ended with a finger pointed in my face and a vein popping out of his forehead.

"I'm... I'm sorry, please forgive me this is just a really frustrating time, I don't normally have outbursts like that..." Harry said.

"Please just cooperate so we can all get out of here alive can ya do that?" He added in.

"Well... Sure just... never mind, when do I start?" I said.

The first part of our plan was coming together. Despite his apparent dislike for us he did seem like a nice guy. We did get access to the station, and with that came access to the armory and our gear. Now all that was left was getting the key, a car, and supplies.

"Follow me." He said in a much nicer voice.

We exited the room and he lead me to the back where the cells were. There I saw Eric sitting on the table reading a 4 day old newspaper with the headlines **-London Engulfed in Riots!-**. These so called 'riots' had spread so fast that by the end of the first day nearly all semblance of civilization was totally wiped out.

"Hey Eric."

"Alex." Eric gave me a nod and went back to reading is outdated newspaper.

The officer in charge of us was constable Dan back from the farmhouse, _bastard_. There were 6 people in the cells, all of them sleeping, and a few officers patrolling the station and manning their stations. I could hear a faint radio in another room and saw Oliver writing on a notepad.

"... and the HMS Ark Royal, carrying the remnants of the British government along with the remaining 5 ships of the Royal Navy have now been placed under quarantine in Calais. French officials are refusing passage into their docks after reports confirm that there has been a breakout within the British Fleet..." An American by the sound of her.

"Ey, guys over here. These are your desks, don't be talkin to any of the prisoners just sit back and don't be causin any trouble now ya hear?" Dan said and went back to his nap.

I took this time to sneak back over to the radio room and listen in on some more reports.

"...US lead NATO forces have placed a quarantine on Ireland, Britain, and the surrounding islands. They have issued a statement saying any non-sanctioned attempts to leave or enter the island will be prohibited by use of lethal force..."

" ... Of the surrounding countries, so far only the Netherlands' have offered any survivors safe haven. What's left of the RAF and a few hundred survivors have set up a camp just outside of Alkmaar with the help from the Red Cross..."

"... For fear of a global pandemic, the UN security council has convened in an emergency meeting to decide the fate of the island nation. The United Kingdom will not be attending..."

So much for world support. Seems like they're all turning against us. _Cunts_. Even if we could get to one of the port cities, we wouldn't make it off the bloody island!


	23. The Other Beginning

_**Day 1, August 18, 2005, 7:00 am**_

"The riots have engulfed the entire city of London. Citizens are ordered to stay in there homes as marshal law has been declared and any persons in the streets will be shot on site. Other cities are reporting similar situations, including Bristol, Manchester, Hastings, Portsmouth, Lancaster, and Liverpool. It seems the irrational behavior of the rioters is not linked to terrorism and are indiscriminate in choosing their target... This has been Alice Jones, in the BBC 9 o' clock news..."

"Ey dad, you still watching that?" Ross asked his father.

Harry Wilkes was in command of the Whittlesey police service and news of spreading riots throughout the country was signaling a bad day for him. He was 49 years old and very tall. He was happily married going on 30 years now to his wife Angela, who he has 3 children with. Eddy was his eldest, then Ross, and then his youngest daughter Bridgette, his two boys were under his command at the station.

"The riots have seemed to spread, bloody stupid people need to find something better to do!" Harry responded.

"Ey guys! Jeff over in Petersborough just called, says the city is experiencin some civil unrest, wants to know if we can spare some people over for riot control." Eddy stated as he walked into the office.

"If we give 'em our boys then how are we supposed to keep our own town safe! Let me talk to him." Came Harry's reply.

Harry picked up the phone in his office and clicked the 'line 1' button then gave a 'get out, stupid' look at Ross and Eddy.

"Harry! It's good to chat again mate." Jeff said.

"Likewise mate, likewise. Listen I hear you need some of my people is that correct?" Harry asked.

"Yeah mate, we're being overrun down here. First reports of riots was only an hour ago, now this thing has spread across the entire bloody city!" Jeff answered.

"Well Jeff, I don't know what to tell you, but if the riots come down to my little town, I need the men to protect it."

"Come on mate, we're havin real trouble down here, we could use all the help we can get!"

Jeff and Harry went to the academy in Petersborough together and had history. While he didn't want to leave Whittlesey vulnerable, Harry didn't want to abandon Jeff and the larger next door neighbor-city of Petersborough. Harry could never refuse someone's call for aid. Perhaps that will be my downfall he thought.

"Alright, I'll give you 20 men." Harry said in a defeated tone.

"Thanks mate, really, I owe you." Came a reply. click

"Ross, call all of our boys in. Take Pete, Arnold, Jim, Toby, Carl, and anyone else you can find over to the Petersborough station, can you do that?"

"Sure things, we going in full riot gear?"

"Yeah, and good luck." Harry replied to his youngest son.

Harry turned the television off and started dialing his house.

"Come on Angela pick up_, pick up..."_

"Hello?" Came the voice of his lovely wife.

"Hey hun, just callin to check up on you--" Harry started.

"Yeah I saw the news, some people are saying it's going on in Petersborough now, what's going on Harry, are we safe?" She asked.

Are we safe... Harry didn't know the answer to his question, but like any loving husband worried about his family he lied.

"No honey, look I just need you to lock up the doors right away and do not answer for anyone except me. Pack up a few things and head to your Mom's, I'll meet you there when I get off work." Harry said.

"What about the boys? And the city?" She asked in a concerned voice.

Harry didn't give a flying rat fuck about the town. These riots looked bad and his #1 priority was to get his family to safety, even if it means abandoning his post. If it did indeed reach the little town of Whittlesey, Harry was going to make sure to get his family out before any harm could come to them.

"Listen Angela, I need you to do this, I'll talk to the boys, just remember what I said, get Bridgette, pack some supplies, and head over to your Mom's. I'll take care of the Ross and Eddy, just do what I told you alright?"

_Knock! Knock!_

"Just a sec!" Harry called out to the person on the other side of the door.

"Angela honey you still there?"

"Yes."

"I love you, now go." Harry said and without waiting for a reply, hung up the phone.

Harry walked over to the door and let his son Ross inside.

"I've got everyone ready, we have about 14 guys suiting up." Ross said.

"Good, you're not going." Harry responded.

"What!? This is my team I rounded up, you can't do this to me!"

"Ross, you're not going, you have never lead a mission before and this is not the time to start!" Harry said in a stern voice.

"I'm giving it to Lyle."

"Lyle?! He is a complete pushover!" Ross yelled.

"I don't care, you're not going, now get back to your post!"

Harry's word was final. His professional and personal relationship with his sons was a very good one. Both of his sons were very dependable, although Ross seemed a bit more levelheaded than Eddy, who had recently faced a police brutality claim.

_**8:00 am**_

"This is bravo-zero calling whiskey-com, we're approaching the city center, over." Lyle's

voice came over the radio.

Harry, Ross, Dan, and Eddy were in the comm room monitoring Lyle's progress. They had 14 men with them in 3 trucks, fully outfitted with riot gear and equipment

"Lyle, you need to get to the station and hook up with Jeff's people." Harry ordered.

"There is a lot of shit in the road, sir, hold on, we're taking an alternate route, back in 5. out." Lyle replied.

_**10 minutes later...**_

"Damnit they should've called in by now, try them on the radio again Dan." Ross said.

"This is Whiskey-comm to bravo-zero, come in over."

_Nothing._

"I repeat, this is whiskey-com to bra-"

"Harry, we lost one of the trucks, there are crowds of people surrounding us... they're... they look pretty fucked up, we need some help!" Came Lyle's frightened voice.

"Lyle! Did you hook up with Jeff and them?" Harry asked.

"Yes! We are right outside the station, there are a few officers on the roof, but the place is completely surrounded--- SHIT SHOOT IT..."

Gunshots could be heard through the speakers, along with yells and... _growls_?

"SHIT they got Sean! Pull him back in here! Harry we're bollocksed! We're heading

out--Harr---Fuck get h--- shoot--- no---the ra---..."

Loud gunshots rang in the car along with some yelling and then the radio went completely out. Everyone stood in complete silence for almost 5 minutes.

* * *

_**The Wilkes' Residence. 9:33 am**_

"Ey mom dad said we should get out of the city yeah?" Bridgette asked her mother.

Bridgette had long dark brown hair and beautiful green eyes, practically a younger, shorter version of her mother. She was 18 years old and an aspiring journalist with a full scholarship right out of high school to the local university.

"I'm not going anywhere without him. You have all your stuff packed?" Angela said, eyeing the streets from her window for any suspicious activity.

Angela was in her late 40s like her husband and had a very classy beauty for her age. She was a little shorter than her daughter, who had no doubt got her height from her father. As a former teacher, her and Harry had met at a school when an escaped convict had barricaded himself inside her school building. Harry lead a specialist armed response unit in a breach and saved the day. They dated and married soon after.

"Have you tried calling Rick?" Angela asked, referring to Bridgette's boyfriend.

"5 times, he won't answer. I'm going over there." She replied.

"No you aren't. We are not leaving this house until your father gets here." Angela said in a

stern voice.

Bridgette walked over to the window that her mother was staring out of and pointed out.

"Look, there's nothin out there, these riots are just contained to big cit---"

_CRACK!_

A large cracking noise cut her off as a badly injured man threw himself against their window and right in front of Bridgette. His face was bleeding badly from various bite marks on his neck and cheeks.

"Ahhh!---" Bridgette screamed.

"Bridge get away from there!" Her mother yelled.

_CRACK!_ The man threw his fist and broke in, more yells came from across the street and suddenly the the neighborhood turned into a warzone with people running each and every direction. The man that broke through the window was now inside the house and charging at Bridgette and Angela...

* * *

_**10:01 am, Whittlesey police headquarters.**_

"The phones are dead. Hey, Harry the phones are dead." Harry looked up at Ron, one of the new recruits who was manning the phones.

"How the hell..." Harry pulled out his cell and called home... _Nothing_. He then tried his daughter's cell, then his Wife's cell... _Still nothing_.

Harry figured they were already out of the city by now, and forced himself to attend to the current crisis. It had been almost 2 hours since the outbreak in Petersborough and already there were some reports of riots in Whittlesey.

The reporters were saying that almost all contact with major cities and officials had been lost and the Ministry of Defence had already dispatched all of it's assets to major cities. There was no more help for the Petersborough area, they were completely on their own.

"Dan, Ron, work on recalling all of our officers to the station now, I don't care who is suspended or who is on leave, get them down here now!" Harry ordered.

"Right away sir." Ron said.

"Air unit reports visual of large crowds leaving Petersborough in our direction. Possibly

refugees---" Dan started.

"Or rioters." Harry finished for him.

The situation was deteriorating faster and faster and all he could think about was his family. His two boys were in the field organizing riot response teams and setting up barricades and checkpoints. His daughter and wife were hopefully safely out of the city by now...

"Dan, you're with me. Ross keep comm channels open and get Jake in here to help you." Harry said.

Harry went over to the armory of the station and pulled out the keys. He opened the door and let Dan inside, following him.

"Dan, you paged all of our people right?" Harry asked, as he did he was sizing up the equipment and ammunition.

"Uh, I was going to but you said to follow you." Dan replied. Dan wasn't necessarily new, but he always acted like it.

"Right, do that now, when they get here issue everyone with a rifle and a few mags. Make sure they're geared up with riot equipment, that means armor, shields, and load up on as much gas grenades as you can. Once you do this, meet me at the west side hospital off of Petersborough Rd. If there's a large crowd coming in, they're coming in from there." Harry instructed to Dan.

"You got all that?" He asked.

"Yes sir." Dan replied.

"Alright, good luck."

Harry grabbed an MP5, 5 mags, 3 gas grenades, a ballistics vest, a radio, and the keys to a squad car and barreled out of the doors. He stepped on the gas pedal and screeched out of the station parking lot heading west towards the hospital at the west end of the city on the major road that lead into his precinct and the connector of The tiny town of Whittlesey and it's much much larger neighboring city of Petersborough.


	24. Small Victories

_**Day 4, 1:20 pm, Whittlesey police headquarters.**_

The battery powered radio was still blasting in the other room, and Oliver was writing on his notepad diligently. I had decided to block it out and go into my own little world. _What had happened?_ We're one of the strongest, most secure nations in the world, yet everything had been lost in a matter of a 24 hours.

_Britain was caught with her pants down._ We were grossly unprepared for something like this, the Ministry of Defence had acted within hours of the catastrophe, yet the situation still spun out of control and the army was sent retreating.

"Alright guys, got another job for you. Will ya take him him and her to the civvy population." Dan said to us.

"Okay, Alex, lets do it?" Eric said.

Dan walked over and opened three cell doors to let people out. There was a pretty blonde and two average looking men which we lead out the station.

"Uh Dan... can we get keys for a car?" Eric asked.

"No. You can walk, it's safe and it's only a few kilometers." He replied.

"Can we at least get some weapons?" I asked.

"No. now go." _Stupid bastard, after all we did for you..._

And with that we left. It took us about 5 minutes to get off the roads and onto the railroad tracks that lead to the warehouses. On our right hand side there was a heavily wooded forested area and on the other side was a seemingly empty city. I was pretty pissed we were stuck doing menial work, and not even given a gun or a car, but atleast I could check up on Ashley and the rest of them.

"Hi, I'm Jane." The blonde haired woman said. She looked to be a teenager, maybe 17 or 18 and was a bit shorter than I. I only nodded and continued walking.

"When someone gives you their name, it's only polite to give them yours." She said matter-of-factly.

Eric rolled his eyes at me and smirked.

"Alex. And this is Eric." I said.

"Well hello Alex and Eric, I'm Joey and this is Ian. We're from Petersborough, just got out of that hellhole yesterday and made our way over here." A man replied.

"So what's your story?" Jane asked.

"We don't have a story." I said.

"We were in London." Eric replied falling back into pace with the group.

"Ah, that place was hit pretty bad I hear." Ian said.

"Well so was Petersborough, I barely got out... I met up with these guys back down the river during my escape... that's where my boyfriend died." Jane said sadly.

"Don't worry love, we're all safe now." Joey said and put a hand on her shoulder.

Joey was about the same height as Jane. He had dirty blonde hair and looked like he was about the same age as me. Ian on the other hand had very dark brown hair, was taller than I, and was in his mid-twenties. They were both walking on either side of Jane who had her eyes locked on me. I could feel them staring in my direction, but didn't acknowledge their presence.

_crunch... crack... crunch..._

"What was that?!" Jane asked in a scared tone.

"Quiet, get down and don't move." I ordered and the three ducked on the other side of the tracks and hid in some brush.

Eric rushed over to me so we could talk in private.

"What do you think it is?" He asked.

"I think it's those crazies, or an animal?" I asked.

"They said the city was pretty much safe! All of the dead people went over to Petersborough." He said.

I stood up and motioned for the others to follow us. The warehouse was only about 800 meters away and I was content in making a dash for the relative safety of the locked doors, reinforced walls, and armed guards.

"Move!" I yelled. The three followed our pace, but were quickly falling behind.

"Eric." I called out to Eric. He caught my 'wait' glance and stopped to help the others.

Three people bursted out of the treeline about 200 meters away and started sprinting towards us. They were followed by a much larger group of about 20 more people that were 300 meters behind the first group. More and more came out of the treeline and screamed in glee at the site of new prey.

"Ahhhh!!!" Jane screamed.

"RUN!" Eric yelled.

"Please please don't leave me please!" Ian was yelling when he started to fall behind.

"Shut up and run!" I yelled.

They were catching up to us and we were still 400 meters away from the warehouse.

"Please! Come back!" Ian yelled, but he was too slow. I decided to leave him and save the other two.

"Noooo... AHHH---ughh-- ple.." I didn't bother looking back. _That should buy us a few seconds_.

"HEY!!" Eric was a few meters ahead of me and yelling towards the warehouse to open the fence-gate.

_BANG! BANG! _

Two guards were firing at the advancing people and covering us. They missed or hit a weakspot every time. By the time we reached the gates and entered, they immediately closed and 5 more armed guards had joined in shooting in full auto.

"Give me that!" I snatched an MP5 away from one guard much to his disapproval and took aim. _BANG_! _One down and about thirty more to go._ Eric was a few meters away from me wrestling a C-7 away from a kid who looked no older than 16 wearing an oversized police uniform.

"Eric take the left, keep them off the gates!" I yelled out to him.

"Watch out!" He called to me. Two crazies had climbed the fence and were attacking the other guards, who were still shooting and missing horribly.

_BANG! BANG!_ I took two more down that were hanging on the fence.

Two more guards came out and sprayed bullets onto the two crazies that had hopped the fence. They used up their entire magazine on two zombies and in the process, killed the guard that was being attacked.

"WATCH THE FENCE!" Eric yelled at them. More and more of those things were trying to climb the fence which was now shaking and on the verge of collapsing.

"FALL BACK TO THE WAREHOUSE!" I yelled. There were now 9 defenders left and the fence bent in a way that allowed the crazies to crawl right over it. We took out about 15 or 20, but still 10 remained and behind them I could see more incoming, _tons more_.

_Thump! Thump!_ After the last man was in we closed the door, seconds later fists were banging on it trying to get in.

"What the fuck did you do! You lead them right to us!" A short, skinny man with black hair yelled at me.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked him.

"I'm Gabe you prick, I'm in command here, what the hell were you thinking leading them over here?!" He screamed at me.

"Gabe! Calm down would ya?" Olivia suddenly jumped out of the group and joined the conversation.

"There are about 10 out there, plus a whole lot more coming." Eric said.

"Get Harry on the line!" One of the guards in the back said.

"NO! There aren't that many out there. We have enough ammo to take them, they have enough problems back at the station." Gabe replied.

"Don't be stupid Gabe." Olivia said.

"I said shut up!" He yelled.

Gabe ordered us to the second floor and to start picking off some of the crowd. When we go there the guards just put their guns out the window and pulled the trigger without even looking. Some even closed their eyes.

"Ey, HEY! Eric you get them over there, I'll help these guys." I motioned Eric to go across the room and help some rookies with their shooting and I went to work on Gabe and three of his friends.

"Hey, this isn't a bloody video game, steady your stance, pick your target, then squeeze. And switch it to bloody semi-auto, you're just wastin ammo." I said to the four men.

Eric already had his guys firing slow, clean, accurate shots out the window and Gabe and the three other men were doing the same. The crowd's numbers had now swelled to nearly 50 by my last count, all of them banging futilely on the brick walls. Slowly their numbers dwindled down until there was such a mess of bodies that we couldn't tell what was alive and what wasn't. There was still some movement coming from under the mound of dead bodies, _perhaps some got trapped?_

Pile upon pile of dead and dying bodies littered the front of the warehouse. Some were blocking the door so heavily that it required a 7 men to push it out and open. Blood was oozing from underneath the mound and it seemed to stain the walls and ground.

"Ha ha! We did it wooooo!" One of the younger guards yelled.

"YEAH! Nice job boys!" Gabe congratulated his men.

I exchanged glances with Eric and we went back downstairs. I checked my watch, _**2:32**_, and slung my MP5 over my shoulder. The guards had C-7s, MP5s, glocks and were all out of CS gas grenades. There was a decent amount of ammo in the warehouse, but nothing compared to the armory at the station.

"Alex!" Ashley came running and much to my surprise jumped on me and gave me a tight embrace. Jon and Jimy were behind her.

"Alex, Eric." Jimy said with a nod to each of us.

"Ey mates, what have you been up to all day?" Jon asked.

"Oh nothin mate, just runnin from cannibalistic monsters, you?"

"This whole bloody place smells like shit. They only have three bathrooms for over 100 people can you believe it! Also we goto clean out the shitter tanks and what not, 100 people can make a lot of poo ya know, even with these shit instant meal packs they give us." Jon finished his rant and sat back down.

"Jon you still have your keys? To your car I mean." Eric asked.

"Yes and you're not gettin it. So I don't want to hear it." Jon replied.

I saw where Eric was going with that. We didn't need the keys, just the gas (Eric could hot wire it anyways). Jon still had about half a tank when we stopped on the railroad tracks. I just noticed that we had everything we needed. Guns, gas, ammunition. _We could finally leave_.

"Alex, Eric, over here." Tom motioned us into a corner away from all the ruckus the guards and civilians were creating.

"We're ready to go. I got a glock and a few mags from the little makeshift armory they have here." Tom said.

"You want to wait until it gets dark?" Eric asked.

"Yeah sure---" He started.

"Wait, what about our people?" I interrupted.

"What you mean the little girl and those two guys, I'm not takin no little girl with me, the big black guy can come, the other one is annoying?" Tom said.

"Jon wouldn't come anyway." Eric said.

"Ally, we have to wait for her." I said.

"You already asked and she said no! I'm not gonna wait, whether you guys come or not."

"Tom, I'm not leavin without my people. You don't know where the truck with the gas is so it looks like you're outa luck." I said.

"Heh heh... Fine. We'll do it your way. Get your people ready and we go. You wait too long and Harry with the cavalry will arrive and this place will be crawling with police."

After Tom finished I went over to Ashley, Jimy, and Jon's camp and sat down for a bit. Ashley seemed to be ecstatic at Eric and my return and we all shared a late lunch, mostly in silence except for the occasional conversation sparked by Ashley.

The aura about the people around us seemed very positive. I guess it had something to do with the major 'battle' we just had. Things like this is good for morale, especially in a largely concentrated population of civilians and morale was as important as food and water in this situation. _We needed small victories like this to keep us going..._


	25. For Everything There is a Season

_**Day 4, 3:00 pm, Warehouse A**_

There were two warehouses adjacent to eachother inside of a large courtyard. Both were situated near a train station and were probably used to store crates waiting to be shipped out by train so it was fairly big and surrounded by a chain link fence that was about 6 meters high.

_Warehouse A_, the one where Ashley, Jimy, and Jon are located and where Eric and I were originally assigned was like one huge tent city, people hanging around, cooking things over an open fire, chatting it up, and playing music. On one of the walls there was a huge poster that showed all of the current news. On another wall was a list of names and pictures, probably lost loved ones. I walked over to take a look.

One of the news lines from the 'world news section' said '**Plymouth Down, outbreak within the city, docks have been destroyed. No longer safe.**" Another read '**RAF refugee camp outside of Alkmaar, Netherlands, has been compromised. NATO extermination squads kill over 3,000 British citizens. Quarantine measures prevented any further spread beyond the camp.' **

It was very crudely put together, probably by Oliver the 18 year old that was manning the radio. Other local news was probably attained from people that had recently joined the refugee camp from the surrounding areas and brought news with them. It was crude, yes, but very proficient considering the amount of time that all of this had happened in.

On another section of the billboard there was the local news with a few announcements such as **'Food rationing starting August, 20'** Another one read **'All able bodied men ages 15-45 are required to check in at the station for selective service' **and the last one I chose to look at, read **'All contact lost with the Petersborough groups from the Mall, Hospital, and police station. Estimated 300+ dead'**

_I decided not to read any more news..._

"Pretty bad isn't it." Olivia said. She came out of nowhere and startled me.

"Yeah." I replied.

"I was talking to Ashley, really nice girl, has a lot of good things to say about you."

Olivia was in her 40s, she had short black hair and was pretty for her age, no super model, but still quite a looker. Her eyes were easily the most dominant feature of her face, they seemed to hold all of the wisdom of the world while still having a beautiful dark bluish hue.

"Olivia Reid by the way." She said offering her hand.

"Yeah, I'm Alex, we met before." I said.

"So what did they have you do down there?" She asked, referring to the station.

"Harry set us up on cell duty, heh." I replied.

"Ah, I've been tryin to get work up there for 2 days now and still I get no response. I am going to die of boredom down here!" She said.

"Well I'll see what I can do---"

"Alex, come here would ya?" Eric yelled from across the room. I barely made out his voice through all of the commotion still going on in the tent city. People talking, laughing, playing guitars and violins.

"Well if you would excuse me..." I gave Olivia a friendly smile and made my way over to Eric who was with Joey and Jane from earlier on the railroad tracks.

I walked over to Eric and noticed Jane was eyeing me expectantly. I took a second to check her out like any self-respecting single guy would. _You''re not single idiot, you and Christine are just taking a 'break' for school as she called it, but I digress._ Jane had dark blonde hair and pretty brown eyes, she was no older than 18 and was wearing skin tight jeans and a small t-shirt.

"Ey Alex, they just wanted to thank us for gettin 'em out." Eric said.

"Oh that, sure... sorry about your friend."

"Oh don't worry about it, we didn't even know the guy." Joe said.

"So where are you guys staying?" Jane asked.

"Not sure yet, either the station or right in here." I replied.

"I was gonna go check out _warehouse B_, but the people here say it's rubbish and this one is better. Less people and it has an extra bathroom." Eric said.

"To tell you the truth though I'd rather stay in a jail cell." He added in.

"Well, you're welcome to join us... if you want to, we're setting up over there." Jane said, pointing to a spot not far from where Ashley, Jon and Jim were at.

"Uh that's nice of you--"

"We'll manage, thanks though." Eric said, cutting me off with a smile.

_Thunk!_

The heavy steel doors to the warehouse opened and in entered Ross, Ally, and Harry. Ross and Ally were engaged in some conversation and Harry was staring daggers at me from across the room.

"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP!" He said on the loudspeaker. "We have almost 60 bodies out there that are going to have to be cleaned up. Now since you guys were the ones that killed 'em and defended the community, I'm assigning clean-up duty to _warehouse B. _Eric and Alex, please report to the front entrance. Oh, and congratulations people!" Cheering echoed off of the high ceilings and throughout the spacious warehouse at Harry's announcement of them not having grave digging duty.

_And the peasants rejoiced..._

"Small victories eh?" I said glancing at Eric. He gave me a nod and a smile.

"Sure is a boost to morale." he said.

Eric and I made our way over to the entrance, having to dodge through crowds of people dancing to three different songs playing from speakers, the most dominant one being The Byrds...

_To everything turn, turn, turn... __There is a season turn, turn, turn... __And a time for every purpose, under heaven..._

As I made my way through the crowd I couldn't help but think about the irony of it all. These people had all of them seen hell in some way shape or form and were now dancing with huge smiles on their faces. _A time for everything I guess..._

_A time to be born, a time to die, A time to plant, a time to reap, __A time to kill, a time to heal, A time to laugh, a time to weep..._

I looked back and saw Jon dancing with some new pretty looking girl, obviously way out of his league. Ashley was dancing with Jim which looked funny since Jim was about 3 times her size. Jane and Joey, new friends of Eric and mine were dancing together as well.

_To everything turn, turn, turn... __There is a season turn, turn, turn... __And a time for every purpose, under heaven..._

Olivia was dancing with one of her friends, a soda can in her hands and laughing. Although Tom was sitting down all by himself, and not dancing, he showed some semblance of a smile. Eric and I made it to Harry who motioned for us to follow him to a secluded office. I could still hear the sounds of the party.

"Gabriel told me what happened. Leading that group to the civilian population was stupid and got people killed. But, since you guys did as Gabe put it so kindly 'lead his soldiers into battle' I'm going to forget about it." He said.

"So did you want us to just sacrifice ourselves?" Eric asked.

"No, I want you to not be stupid. Stupidity will cost lives." He replied.

"With all due respect sir." _I've been in the army too long, he's not your sir you fool!_ "The warehouses were fortified and there were armed men waiting for us. Not to mention we had 3 civilians with us." I said.

He rubbed his chin in thought for a few seconds then nodded.

"Alright, I've decided to give you guys permanent jobs at the station. Don't push it though." Harry said.

"Well, go ahead and get to the little celebration, it's your doing." He added.

Eric and I walked back out to the festivities, grabbed some drinks , and sat down on some chairs. The same music was still playing and people were still dancing.

_A time to build up,a time to break down, A time to dance, a time to mourn, __A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together..._

I still couldn't figure out why Harry didn't like us. Perhaps it's because we're army. _Ex-army_. But why would he hate the army? Either way I knew I wouldn't be staying here. I still had family and friends to get to.

_To everything, turn, turn, turn... __There is a season, turn, turn, turn... __And a time for every purpose, under heaven..._

I noticed Ally was dancing with Ross. She looked happy and surprisingly a feeling of jealousy shot through me. Apparently I was staring because Eric seemed to notice and punched me in the shoulder and offered me another drink.

_A time of love, a time of hate, A time of war, a time of peace, __A time you may embrace, A time to refrain from embracing..._

"What's wrong mate, women troubles?" He asked.

"Hah, no, no. She's way outa my league and there's kind of an apocalypse scenario playing out in our country that is consumin all of my attention at the moment. Plus I have a girlfriend waiting for me in Bristol remember?" I said, still staring at the dancers.

"Mate, let me tell you something... When you constantly have to go on little 'breaks' that tells ya something. Maybe ya just weren't meant for eachother. And as far as this whole situation is concerned, it can't last forever." He said.

"Ya know, she is way out of your league come to think of it." He added in, laughing, which earned him a stiff elbow in the ribs.

_To everything, turn, turn, turn, __There is a season, turn, turn, turn, __And a time to every purpose under heaven_

"Come on mate, I can't let you have a self-pity session, not now, this is our party!" Eric said as he threw his drink aside and dragged me out of the chair.

"I can't bloody dance!" I yelled over the music.

"Neither can I!" He replied.

_A time to gain, a time to lose, A time to rend, a time to sew __A time to love, a time to hate, A time for peace, I swear it's not too late..._

I guess there's always a time for everything, no matter what the situation. I threw away my old self-conscious attitude and danced (More like flail my arms around like a retard) with my best friend. I welcomed this small victory and I smiled despite myself. Things were looking good right now.

_I only wondered how long it would last. . ._


	26. Shit Out of Luck

_**Day 1, August 18, 2005, 10:30 am. Whittlesey hospital**_

Harry weaved around parked and crashed cars and came to a screeching halt in the parking lot of **Whittlesey Emergency Center. **He grabbed his weapons and supplies and went into the hospital. Once inside it was busy, phones ringing, people running around, yelling, screaming, and sounds too hard to describe. There were people there with injuries ranging from small bite marks and scratches to entire limbs having been torn off.

"_Damn_. NURSE get me whoever is in charge here." Harry yelled at a short woman in light blue scrubs.

"Um... one second." She said and got on the phone presumably to page the person he was looking for.

"He'll be right with you... um could you please put the gun away?" She asked. Harry realized he was waving his gun around and the people in the waiting room were staring at him.

"Right... sorry."

He stood by the clerks desk for 5 minutes before raising HQ on his radio.

"Dan, come in."

"Yes sir?"

"How are we looking on manpower? Harry asked.

"I've got about 38 guys with me and we're heading over to the hospital, over." Dan replied.

"Bring the riot gear, and barricades. Pack up all he ammunition and gas grenades you can, over."

"We goin to war Harry?" Dan asked.

"I hope not... I really hope not... Put a hustle on it..."

A tall man that appeared to be in his mid thirties and of Indian descent walked up to Harry. He had black hair and was wearing light blue scrubs, a white jacket, and had a clipboard in his hand.

"Can I help you officer, we're really busy down here." He said.

"Listen uh..." Harry started.

"Allen."

"Right. Allen, we have a major situation, you see there is a large mob of rioters heading down to our little town and they're going to be coming through this street." Harry said.

"How do you know they're rioters and not refugees?" Allen asked.

"Well for one, they're attacking people and appear to be violent. We're setting up barricades along the street to stop them, I just wanted to warn you that we're setting up and it may get a bit dangerous in this part of town." Harry said.

"Well Officer... thanks for the warning, but I have too many patients here to leave."

"You do realize we are all there is right? There's about 500+ people with violent intentions making their way in our direction and I have about 30 maybe 35 men to stop it, there is no army coming to help us."

"Doctor!" One of the nurses called out. A man had just come in with multiple wounds to his neck area. _Like his throat had been torn out..._

"Look, thank you for your concern, but I really need to go. I'm sorry."

Harry burst out of the emergency center, slamming the doors in anger and tried his radio again.

"Comm come in, this is Harry, over."

"Harry readin ya loud and clear, this is Jake with comm."

"Where is Ross?" Harry asked.

"He's en route to your location with Dan." Came Jake's reply. Jake was one of the new recruits still at the station along with Ron.

"Alright, patch me through to the air unit."

"Will do... just a sec..."

"This is air unit 2, Jamie at your service."

"Air 2 do you still have a visual on the crowd, over?" Harry asked.

"Affirmative. Two groups of 200+ at least, are converging now and running along the road. ETA to Whittlesey about 20 minutes."

"Have that air 2, Comm, get on the radio with Ross and Dan and inform them of our timetable. Out"

_Damnit..._

_10 minutes later.._.

3 SUVs and 7 squad cars pulled up on Harry's position. The streets full of activity as more and more people brought their injured loved ones to the emergency center.

"Where do ya want these?" Ross asked referring to the barricades

"Set them up across the road, I want this entire passageway blocked off. Road spikes, barricades, everything. And get use the bloody cars too!" Harry replied.

"You heard him!" Ross yelled. The men jumped into action and pulled their equipment out of the trucks and cars. Harry went back on the radio for a situation update.

"This is ground 1 to comm, I repeat ground 1 to comm. Come in over."

"This is comm, what can I do for ya Harry-err I mean ground 1." Came Jake's voice.

"Patch me through to air-2."

"Right away."

"This is air-2, Jamie at your service."

"Jamie I need an update." Harry said.

_CRACK!_ One of the new guys drove a squad car into an SUV when he was trying to move into position.

"Get those damn cars in a row behind the barricades you bloody retard, where the hell did you learn to drive!" Ross yelled.

"Alright Harry, I've still got about 300 maybe 400 people heading in your direction. They don't look like refugees, they're on foot, ETA about... 3-4 minutes give or take." Jamie said.

"Alright tha---"

Before Harry could finish he could see large crowds of people in the horizon running in their direction and hear screaming, crying, and yelling. There had to be at least 300 of them.

_ETA 3 minutes..._

"ROSS!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Take 4 of your best sharpshooters onto the roof of the hospital, GO NOW!" Harry said.

"Right, Charlie, Harv, Ken, Ian, you're with me, get a rifle and lets go!" Ross said. He and his chosen ran into the hospital to set up.

"Dan, get into the hospital and start evacuating people. I don't care what it takes, threaten them with your gun, just get them out of here." Harry ordered.

"Yes sir." And Dan went off.

_ETA 2 minutes..._

"Harry!" Eddy yelled at his father, pointing at the crowd. Eddy was his second in command now.

"Yeah I saw it Ed, get the men and set up on the barricades, do not fire until I give the order."

"SIR!" Another young man yelled out, pointing to the advancing crowd. His name was Jeremy, also new.

"I see it, stay in position and don't panic." Harry said.

The men were getting antsy now. Some looked hesitant like they were about to run away. There were about 30 men strewn out in a line across the street that lead into the town of Whittlesey. All had protective riot gear on, riot shields, gas grenades, and MP5s and C-7s standard issue.

_ETA 1 minute..._

"Ross come in, over."

"Yeah Harry this is Ross, I see them, god there are hundreds of them."

"I know, I need your men to start firing gas grenades at them, don't use lethal force until I give the order though, just gas 'em." Harry said.

"Have that Harry, if they don't disperse... We can't take that many--"

"Damnit Ross, just do what I told you, out."

"_crssh.._ ground 1 this is air 2, there is a group closing in on your position, over." Jamie said over the radio.

"I know damnit I see the---"

"No Harry, they're coming from within the bloody town, right behind you damnit!" Jamie yelled.

Harry looked up at the police helicopter buzzing above him. Then looked back and down the street in the opposite direction. He could see a crowd of about 50 people running towards the barricade. _Shit..._

"There are a little less than 100, ETA about 5 minutes give or take." Jamie said.

"Have that, thanks air-2, out." Harry said.

_ETA 30 seconds..._

The sounds of the launchers came from the roof of the hospital as Ross and his men fired CS gas grenades into the crowd. In the parking lot there were doctors and patients alike going back to their cars and Dan behind them.

"Harry, not all of the people would leave, some doctors stayed behind with the critical patients." Dan said.

"Don't worry about it, get on the line." Harry said.

Harry got out his loudspeaker and yelled through it.

"This is the Whittlesey police service, I order you to disperse or we will use lethal force." He yelled.

"I repeat, I order you to disperse or we will open fire!"

"AHHH!!!" Screams came from the hospital and some doctors and nurses came running out, being attacked by their former patients. Harry glanced back and saw the other crowd from behind gaining on him.

"_I knew this was going to be a bad day.._." He mumbled to himself.

_ETA 20 seconds..._

"OPEN FIRE! I REPEAT, OPEN FIRE!" He yelled through the loudspeaker then threw it down, brought his MP5 to his shoulder, and fired at the patients attacking the doctors.

_BANG! BANG! ARRGHH! _Guns firing and people screaming and yelling, explosions, launchers firing more grenades, chatter on the radio, it was anything but silence. _It was the sound of war and we were shit out of luck..._


	27. The Lucky Ones

_**A/N: Here are the next 5 chapters, enjoy and please leave a review.**_

* * *

_**Day 4, 11:00 pm, Warehouse A**_

The party was gradually coming to an end and a few slow songs could be heard in the background. It was a decent party, one that helped me escape our current situation, in addition to dancing with Eric, I also went with Ashley then later Olivia. Also by the end of the night I had consumed 6 pepsis and tons of snack food._ So much for rationing._

I was now sitting on the second floor which was more crowded than the first since 2nd floor real estate was quite valuable, all things considered. Eric was outside talking to some of the folk from Warehouse B and helping them pile up bodies. The corpses were being piled into flat bed trucks and driven a few hundred meters to a mass grave where they were planning to incinerate them.

"Hey you." Ally came from behind me, took a chair, and sat with me by the window.

"Oh, hey."

"Haven't talked to you in a while, so what's up?" She asked

"Oh... nothing really, Harry put us on cell duty. Also earlier he said Eric and I had more permanent jobs at the station, don't know what yet."

"So you're staying?"

"I didn't say that." I replied.

"Listen, about what I said... you know, that I would go with you to help you find your family...-"

"Don't even worry about it." I cut her off.

"Ok... well I guess I'll be seeing you around the station more then?"

"Yeah I'll make sure of it." I said.

Ally was wearing a light blue dress shirt that had the first three buttons on the top open, a pair of jeans, and a gun holster at her side. Needless to say it quite a turn on. _Control yourself fool! _My eyes had strayed down, but I caught myself before she noticed. _Phew good save._

"So what have you been up to?" I asked before she got up and headed out.

"Oh, Ross has been taking me on some raids on the town. Getting supplies ya know. Food, water, clothing, the works." She answered.

"Ah so this Ross guy sounds pretty nice." I baited her. Be cool Alex, be cool.

"Oh... ha ha, yeah he's ok, why are you jealous?" She said with a smile starting to form on her face.

"No, no, not at all, so these raids sound pretty interesting. How does one get on this squad?" I asked, quickly trying to change the subject.

"Well Harry has to pick you, mostly it's people who know what they're doing and have been on the force a while. Ross runs one squad and Eddy runs the other."

"They dangerous?" I asked.

"Aw you worried about me?" She said, another smile creasing across her face.

"Uh, no just wondering--" I started.

"Listen, Alex. I'll see what I can do to get you on our squad, but there is quite a bit of animosity towards army types around here. News being that they retreated and left us all here and all." She said.

The army had retreated a few days after the outbreak occurred. It had been so widespread and went out of control that the British army could do nothing so they cut their losses and ran, leaving over 50 million people for dead.

"I... I don't know what to say..."

"I'm really Sorry Alex, look I'll see what I can do to get you into a squad to get some supplies."

"Thanks I--"

"No don't thank me, I owe it to you." She said.

"The city is pretty much empty except for a few groups here and there. Most of them went to Petersborough where there was still food." She added in.

"Food? What the hell?"

"Yeah, they eat us... like cannibals, but... not." She said.

"Wow... I thought that's just how they attacked us, but they actually eat the people they kill?"

"_crrshh _Ally come in, this is Ross, we're takin the cars back to the station, you comin with? over."

"_click_, Ross, I'm on my way, out." Ally replied.

"I goto go Alex, don't be a stranger ok?" She said, squeezed my shoulder, then walked a way.

I was left to my own thoughts now. Still sitting on the chair and staring out the window of the second floor of _Warehouse A_. The gravediggers from _warehouse B_ were finishing up the last corpses and Eric looked up to me at the window and gave me a thumbs up.

I decided to go down to join Eric and help them out. I crept quietly to the stairs and went down to the first floor, careful not to disturb anyone in the tent city. I made my way out the door and Eric was getting on the last truck heading to the mass grave.

"Ey wait up." Eric said, banging on the driver's side door.

"Alex hop on hurry." I followed his order and the car started driving.

It was a warm night with heavy cloud cover so there were no stars and the moon was obscured by the dark masses in the sky. _Looks like rain._

"So what's new?" I asked.

"Ah, this here is John, from warehouse B. He's a football player, plays for the Blackburn rovers!" Eric said.

"Blackburn rovers eh? What are you doin all the way down here then?" I asked.

"I was visiting my sister when all of this shit happened." He replied.

"Alex." I said extending my hand to shake his.

"Nice to meet ya Alex."

I studied John for a moment. He was very tall, about 6'4, he was black, bald, and looked to be in very good shape, since after all he was a football player. He was in his early 30s.

"We're here!" The driver said.

Then it started raining. _And it really poured._

"Let's get these bodies into the pit and start this bloody fire shall we?" John said.

"Well at least this rain will wash out the smell eh?" I joked.

"Alex help me with this fat guy." Eric asked.

I dropped the small lady on the mound and ran over to help Eric. The guy must've weighed at least 300 lbs, but we managed to drag him to the large mound of dead bodies. The bodies were very stiff and hard to deal with, but we managed.

"Damn I need a shower." Eric said.

"Some of us usually go down to the river and jump in. Not the safest of things to do, but the guards let us." John said, tossing a teenager into the pile.

"Well, this rain should do for now heh." I said.

"Yes, you wouldn't happen to have any soap would ya?" John asked.

"You boys want some soap? Why didn't ya say so!" Olivia came up from behind us. She had a big raincoat on and I only recognized her from her distinctive commanding yet feminine voice.

"To what do we owe this pleasure my lady?" John said with a chivalric bow.

"Oh stop you, I brought you guys some kerosene to set this thing aflame." She said.

"Well mighty kind of you ma'am" John said.

She threw the small container and a lighter and John and walked back into the warehouses. John was lightly laughing as she walked away. _Must be an inside joke or something._

"What was that all about?" Eric asked.

"Well you see we're kind of the unofficial leaders of our respective warehouses so we have a special kind of relationship." He answered.

"Good to know." I said.

"Alright boys, here it goes."

John doused the pile with as much kerosene as he could and lit the bodies up. Flames burst to life and danced all over the pile of corpses. There was a constant battle over possession of the mound by the rain and fire, but ultimately the fire won.

Besides John, Eric, and myself there were 15 other men gathered around the bonfire fueled by human corpses, they didn't seem to mind about the rain at all because they just stood there and stared into the fire in some sort of trance, light of the fire illuminating their faces.

We stayed there and waited in complete silence, we didn't know what we were waiting for, but we stood there regardless. Perhaps it was to pay homage to loved ones that had long since died. Or maybe it was to the sacrifice that these dead people before us had made. They had to die so that we could live, were they still in there somewhere amidst the evil animalistic demons that had taken over their bodies? Either way we were the lucky ones, the ones who had survived to live another day.

We were the lucky ones..._ Or were we?_


	28. Incoming!

_**Day 1, August 17, 2005, 11:04 am, On the Whittlesey main road, across from the hospital.**_

"SIR! We've got incoming!" Dan yelled over the chaos.

"I know damnit. We have about 4 minutes till they get to us." Harry yelled back.

The 30+ officers were still firing at the crowd of advancing people, but they weren't making much of a dent. The ones who were shot and fell down were trampled by the mob, the ones who didn't fall, kept coming.

"Our weapons aren't doin anything!" A 2 year veteran named Jerry yelled.

"Fall back to the hospital!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs.

"GO GO!" One of the officers yelled.

The crowd was now in melee range and tearing through the blockade, some of the officers didn't get away. The ones who made it out of the barricades before it was overrun were now mobbed in the parking lot by infected fleeing the hospital. Guns blazing, they made their way through the mess.

"Shoot them!" Dan called out, firing his C-7 randomly at the doors.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Harry jumped on Dan who was firing wildly and hitting innocent people as well as combatants.

"Use some bloody discretion will ya!" Harry yelled at him.

"I can't tell whos friendly and whos not!"

The group of men made it into the hospital and locked the doors. Only 4 of them made it out of the war zone that had engulfed the parking lot and street. The group that was coming from within the town had now arrived and joined with the Petersborough group to form a huge mob of people trying to get inside.

"What the fuck!" Eddy yelled.

_BANG!_ Harry shot a woman in scrubs that was charging Eddy from behind with her mouth wide open.

"Check her!" Harry called out.

"She's gone. Bite marks on her back and neck, bollocks I'm telling you we need the army in here!" Jerry yelled.

"There is no army, we need to clear this hospital and call for air evac. Dan make sure the doors are secure, Jerry go with him and secure ALL of the entrances into this building. Ed go up to the roof and get your brother... I said GO!" Harry ordered and his men went to their tasks.

"Air 2 come in, air 2, damnit Jamie answer me, over!" Harry yelled.

"Harry, good to hear ya mate, looks like you guys were bollocksed down there. How are you lookin, over?" Jamie asked.

"I've got 3 others with me plus the rooftop unit. Listen, we need immediate evac out of this area and back to the station. Get to the roof as fast as you can, do you understand, over?"

"Have that, Harry. Be there in 5 minutes, out." Jamie replied.

"We truly are bollocksed..." Harry mumbled afters witching his walkie off.

"AHHH" _Bang! Bang!_ Somewhere across the hall yelling, gunshots, and glass shattering were heard over the noise of the rioters banging on the doors.

"HARRY!" Dan yelled from that direction.

Harry sprinted to the calling voice and found Dan holding Jerry. Two rioters found a way in and bit him up good. There was a nurse a few meters away who had no visible wounds other than bullet holes in her chest.

"What the hell happened!" Harry asked.

"Two of 'em got in, they were on Jerry so I shot 'em." Dan said.

"You killed the bloody nurse too you fool!" Harry yelled.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, I just--" Before Dan could finish, Jerry was up and tackling Dan. _BANG_! Harry put one round through his head and picked up Dan.

"Come on we need to get to the roof, if those two got in, there are probably more on the way." Harry said.

They went to the stairs, obviously not wanting to use the elevators in such a crisis, and came to an open door of the roof. There were blood stains on the gravel and smeared along the door. Quietly, with weapon at the ready, Harry ascended the last steps of the stairs. He pushed the door open and saw 7 people on the ground, 3 were officers, Ken, Charlie, and Ian, and 4 were patients from the hospital.

"Dad! Watch out, they fucking come back or some shit. What the hell are we going to do?" Ed asked.

"You call the helicopter unit?" Ross asked his father.

"Yes, he should be here in any minute." Harry said, and as if on cue, the Eurocopter EC135 T1 came into view and within earshot. It then proceeded to land on the roof and was able to take passengers.

"Get us the hell out of here!" Harv, the surviving sniper along with Ross from the rooftop unit said.

"Will do!" Jamie replied.

"Head back to the station." Harry said.

The 5 minute flight was flown mostly in silence. None of the men wanted to discuss what they had just witnessed. It was like something out of their worst nightmares and would now be etched to the back of their skulls for the rest of their possibly very short lives.

"What the..." Harry mumbled to himself. As they passed by his house, he noticed both cars were still in the driveway. _Damnit Angela..._

When they got back to the station Harry was the first one out. Ignoring all of the questions that his people were asking him, he burst into his office, closed, and locked the door. He walked slowly to the phone, praying there would be an answer to his calls. He picked up the phone and started dialing...

"_Beep,_ you have reached the Wilkes resident, please leave a message... _Beep_." Came Angela's voice from the answering machine.

"Bollocks!" He said, dialing their cell now.

"Hi this is Bridgette, please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Damnit bloody hell shit motherfucker..." He cursed for another 10 seconds then sat in his chair.

_**5 minutes later...**_

Harry got up and in the process sent his chair tumbling into the bookshelf behind him, but he didn't care. He stormed out of his office, got his MP5, knife, and tacvest, and slammed out the front door. Ross, Eddy, and Jake followed him.

"Where the hell are you going? You can't just leave, not now, you have certain bloody responsibilities!" Ross yelled.

"My only responsibilities are to my bloody family, now get the hell out of my way!" Harry yelled.

"Wha... " Ross started.

"I thought you told them to leave the city?" Eddy yelled.

"Sir we ca.." Jake started, but was interrupted by Ross.

"We'll go with you."

"No, stay here and take care of this crisis, I'll be back in a bit." Harry replied.

He jumped into a patrol car and sped off, leaving a confused trio at the station to handle the coming apocalypse.

_**12:13 pm, Wilkes' Residence.**_

The drive to his house was usually 20 minutes, but the way he was driving, it was 5. He crashed a few times into parked cars, but the squad car was sturdy and despite the scratches and dents, made it to his house easily. He reached for his radio, but found out he left it at the station.

"Damnit... Just my luck." He mumbled.

"Angela why didn't you leave... Oh god..." He mumbled to himself again once he saw his front window shattered with pieces of skin dangling off the shards. Blotches of blood was scattered throughout the front lawn, front window, and porch. The streets were relatively silent. Most of the riots were taking place in Petersborough and the folk in Whittlesey that joined their ranks have probably gone there as well. Harry tried the door, but it was locked. He didn't have his keys so he just took the entrance conveniently made for him by the intruders.

He stepped over the planters and broken glass, careful not to cut himself, and walked into his home. The couch was tipped over and coffee table broken. Bloodstains were prevalent throughout the living room and into the kitchen.

_Knock... Knock... _A faint knocking was coming from upstairs. Harry dared not call out a name, too afraid of the answer he might get, and so, put off the inevitable truth that awaited him: Whether his wife and daughter were alive or not...


	29. Identity Crisis

_**Day 5, August, 21, 5:01 am, Warehouse A**_

I ended up going to bed in _Warehouse A_ at about 12 o' clock. I got an extra Cot and slept next to Eric right outside Ashley's tent. Jon's tent was located a few meters away and he had his new girlfriend staying with him. She was a very skinny, high maintenance blond, going to modeling school or something. Her name was Jane or Janine or something. I still couldn't figure why she was with an average joe like Jon.

I slipped out of my cot and started getting dressed. Same jeans and the cheap long sleeve dress shirt I wore for the past 2 days, and same undershirt I wore for the past 5. But I left my dress shirt unbuttoned this time, _a daring move if I do say so myself._

"Good morning Alex." Jimy was looking through a window out into the forested area.

"Whoa hey Jimy, didn't know you were there mate. Haven't talked to you in a while... Anything new?" I asked.

"I am feeling empty here... I..." He started.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I..." He started again.

That was the first time I heard him fumble for words since he was usually a very precise speaker.

"You... miss your family?"

"Yes... There is an emptiness that cannot be filled no matter what I do. My two daughters, my son, and my wife were my life. Now they are gone and what do I have left? Nothing." He stated coldly, eyes still locked out the window.

"You have your friends..." I didn't know if I could call him a friend since I only knew him for a few days, but it was worth a try.

"We have to survive, just keep your eyes set on the goal and you will achieve it... I... That's all you have to do. Keep your focus on the mission until it's complete. You said it yourself... before we came here remember?" I said.

"Survive? Is it really just enough to survive, Alex...?" He then turned to me.

"You need something to survive for. It is not enough to just survive..." He said, then turned his attention back towards the window.

"I would like to be left alone now, Alex. Have a good day my friend."

I didn't understand what he meant. _Not enough to survive? What else is there if not that?_ I knew what I had to do. Keep my eyes on the target and complete my mission, that's all there is. _That and my family._ I still couldn't get hold of a working cell phone or land line.

I walked over to the food table and noticed the guards had brought in a new supply of food. Mostly IMPs, bread, and some bananas. The bananas had a lot of bruises on them, but I needed the calories and I like bananas so I took two and found a place to eat.

"Hey there." Came a friendly voice. It was Olivia.

"You're an early riser." She said.

"Old habit from the army I guess heh." I replied.

"These stale bananas are pretty good, but I prefer the moldy bread. Although those meal packs that taste like cardboard have their merit as well." She joked.

"Yeah..." I said laughing under my breath and smiling slightly.

"So... What did you do... you know before all of this?"I asked.

"Ah, I thought you'd never ask. I was a sociology and economics professor in Petersborough." She said proudly.

"Interesting..." I mumbled while chewing on my somewhat gooey banana.

"And let me guess you... A soldier? Army right?" She guessed.

"You guessed correct."

"Hah, knew it. Let me guess again, Parachute regiment? SAS? Mechanised infantry?"

I just looked up from my goopy meal at her.

"Hah, knew it, SAS... Guess you heard about the last army guy we had here?" She said.

"Wait, what?"

"We had some downed pilot from an RAF squadron that was going North to hook up with the 3rd mechanised and retreat to Norway 2nd day of all this."

"Well?" I urged her to continue.

"Well... some of the guys here were mad their army was abandonin them and at night, kidnapped him and dropped him off somewhere in the city where activity had been reported." She finished.

"I... Uh... I don't know what to say..." I was literally speechless.

"Don't worry your secret is safe. Just don't go around flauntin the fact that you're ex-army, and by the way, the two guys who did the deed died a day before you got here. Doesn't mean it's the end of it though, trust me."

I made a mental note to talk to Eric and the rest of my group about this. Hopefully it wasn't too late. This only solidified my resolve to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"You know, I really think these people just need someone or something to blame. They have all lost everything ya know. When something bad happens people always look for somethin to blame." She said.

"That the sociology professor talkin?" I asked.

"Hah, yes you got me there."

"Well, if you'll excuse me." I gave her a nod, and she did the same.

I saw across the room Eric was sitting up and twiddling his fingers so I decided to break off the conversation and tell Eric the news. I walked over and sat down on my cot a meter away from his.

"Mornin'." He said.

"Yeah... morning... listen we need to talk about something." I gave him a 'follow me' look and he complied.

We found a corner a few meters away that was secluded and out of earshot of everyone.

"So what's this about? We leavin tonight or somethin? I haven't seen Tom around, should I get him in for this--"

"No, just listen." I interrupted.

"I just talked to Olivia and it turns out this whole animosity towards the army thing is more than just talk, some guys killed an RAF pilot--"

"Bollocks!" He said rather loudly.

"Just listen. They're dead, but I really think we should keep our identity to ourselves..." I said.

"No prob mate, I'll tell Jon and the rest of 'em---"

"Hi guys!" Jane from yesterday said.

"Oh... um... hi uh we were just..." I tried to think of an explanation.

"Um I'm gonna go get breakfast, see ya around." Eric bolted off. _Bastard._

I started to walk and Jane followed me. She had nice blond hair, simple pair of jeans and a shirt on, and she looked like she was just out of high school.

"Hey, just wonderin what you got planned today?" She asked, still following me so I stopped.

"Nothin really, probably goin to the station. You?" I asked in a neutral tone.

"Well what is there to do around here ha ha." She said with a smile.

"So what is it you do? You some kind of cop?" She asked.

"Uh.. what do you do?" I asked, desperately trying to think of an excuse. _Wish I had a twix to stuff in my mouth right about now._

"Uh, ha ha, I graduated a few months ago... Was going to the community college when this happened... Now you?"

"I uh... work as... I work for the Office of National Statistics, census division... um yeah." I said. _Census division?_ That was the best I could come up with? For some reason that was all that came to my head, pretty ironic, all things considered.

"Oh.. never pegged you as a pencil pusher... I mean that in a good way!" She said.

"Oh look Eric is choking on a banana, he needs me, nice talking to ya, lets do it again sometime!" I said as I quickly walked away.

Eric was nibbling on a very hard piece of bread and just staring at his banana, clearly not choking.

"Oh hey Alex, ya know I think I prefer those cardboard tasting IMPs." He said.

"Listen, we work for the national statistics office, census division, got it?" I stated.

"The national what of the what division?" He joked.

"The bloody census, Jane asked me what we did---"

"And you told her we take the bloody census?!" He looked mad and amused at the same time.

_You really screwed up this time Alex... _

"So... how goes it?" Tom said from across the table. I checked my watch and it was 6:30 and people were starting to wake up.

"Hi Tom... Uh listen we have a situation, if anyone asks about us, we work for the national office of statistics ok?"

"The what?" Tom said, giving a confused look in Eric's direction.

"Don't look at me." Eric said.

"What the hell is that?" Tom asked.

"The bloody census!" I yelled.

"Oh... right... the what?" Tom asked again.

"I give up." I resigned to my Cot and stared at the ceiling.

--------------------

"Hello mate!" It was Jon, I never would've pegged him for an early riser.

"Uh.. Hi Jon." I said.

"So... you gonna ask me?" He said.

"Ask you about what?"

"Good I thought you'd never ask. Her name is Jenny and she works as some kind of model--"

"Listen Jon... I need you to keep Eric's and my identity a secret could ya do that?" I interrupted.

"Oh yeah sure mate, I told Jenny though... but I'll tell her not to say anything." He said.

"We have anything good? I would like some eggs sunny side up, mmm that sounds nice." He added in, obviously in a good mood.

"Well see ya around mate." And with that he was off to the food table, and to the disappointment awaiting him. _This was going to be a bad day._.. But then again every day was a bad day ever since all hell broke loose.

"Hi Alex." I looked up and there was Ashley. She quickly came out of her tent and sat next to me.

"So what's new?" She asked.

"Mornin'." I said. I checked my watch, 6:49, _since when did people get up this early?_

"You uh.. want to do somethin today, some people I heard are going down to the river, you want to come?" She asked.

"I might be working down at the station with Eric. But anyways I need you to do me a favor... I need you to keep Eric and my identity a secret, it's complicated but can ya do that for me?" I asked.

"Um... sure... I... Oh look breakfast, well think of goin down to the river with me if ya have time, see ya!" She said and sped off.

_Great, A very bad day indeed_... I decided to sleep in.


	30. Infected?

_**Day 5, August, 21, 8:20 am, Warehouse A **_

"Hey wake up you fool!" I snapped to attention and a million things flooded my senses at once. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked. It was Eric.

"Get up you bloody fool we goto head down to the station, Harry called for us on the radio, guess it's time to start our new job."

Without a word I got up and went out the door. I didn't have any possessions to take since it was all locked away in the armory, same for Eric.

"Good luck boys." Olivia said as we passed by. I gave her a nod and walked out the door.

Two guards were waiting for us and told us to get in the car. After a 10 minute drive we came to the station which had another 2 guards on the roof and 3 guards across the street forming a defensive perimeter.

_**8:31 am, police station.**_

"Welcome." Harry greeted us at the door.

"Don't fuck this up." He said and walked off.

"Follow me." Ross said, he had been waiting with Harry.

Ross lead us to what I assumed was the armory, and my assumption proved correct when he opened it and there were shelves of ammunition, empty gun racks, and boxes of gas grenades and other miscellaneous items.

"Your gear is over there and you're welcome to take whatever else you need within reason, of course. I wouldn't bother with those grenades though, they're useless."

"Where's our old gear?" I asked.

"Don't know, it's not over there?" He asked.

I ignored him and just grabbed a C-7, knife, tacvest and stuffed a few mags into the pouches. Eric did the same._ All set_.

"Done? Alright follow me." Ross lead us out of the room and locked it again.

"Where's Ally?" I asked.

"I don't know... you'll be working here." He showed us to some desks.

"We're working desk jobs? Why did we even get bloody guns?!" Eric asked.

"Just some paperwork then you can go on some patrols and supply runs."

I looked at the papers. Population count. _Great._

"Bollocks." Eric mumbled to himself and got to work. I did the same. The work was boring, all we did was review ingoing supplies to each warehouse and made sure they were correctly portioned according to population. _Warehouse B_ had a population of 61 while _Warehouse A_ had a population of 44.

_"Sir, what the hell are we supposed to do?"_ I heard someone talking from Harry's office down the hall. My curiosity got the better of me so I gave Eric a 'be right back' look and I snuk around within earshot, but out of sight.

"We are dangerously low on food, the supply runs aren't successful anymore, and there has been an increase in the number of those things coming into town!" Eddy said.

"I don't give a damn, deal with it!" Harry yelled at him.

"What are you sayin Ed?" Ross asked.

"For one, we can't let anymore people in, and two-" Eddy started

"Are we just going to turn people away?!" Ross interrupted.

"Just shut up for a minute! Secondly we need to get rid of a few people."

"Oh that will really go over well with them, I wouldn't be surprised if they turn on us!" Ross yelled.

"Are you just going to let this happen dad?!" Ross said to Harry.

"Like I said, I really don't give a damn anymore." Harry stated bluntly.

"What the hell is the matter with you, do you want to die?" Ed said.

"Well what if I do!?" Harry snapped back at him.

"This is getting nowhere..." Ross trailed off.

"_Crssh _Sir, we need you in the comm room asap." Dan said over the radio.

I quickly ran back to my spot and got Eric, I told him to follow me and we went to the comm room before anyone else got there. Jake, Dan, and Oliver were in there listening to some radio transmission. Ross, Eddy, and Harry soon entered.

"What the hell are you doing here, and why the hell do ya have guns?!" Eddy yelled, raising his gun.

"Drop it right now you idiot!" Harry yelled at his eldest son who followed his order, but that didn't stop him from staring daggers at me.

"Sir, we got a transmission from Harvey down at the river." Dan said.

"Why the hell is he at the river?" Harry asked.

"He took some people down there to... uh... relax..." Dan said reluctantly

Harry gave a disapproving look at all three of the comm operators.

"Here... listen." Jake said, and pressed a button.

"_crssh _Comm! We have a problem down at the river--- we--- getting... they're here! _Bang!_ RUN! We need help--- AGGHH!!..."

"How long ago?" Harry asked.

"About 5 minutes sir." Dan replied.

I didn't waste any time. I bolted out the door, grabbed Dan's keys that were on the clerk's desk and jumped into a car. Eric came following 2 seconds later. Ashley said something about going to the river with some people, _she was probably out there right now_.

"_Crssh_ Alex, where the hell are you going?" Ross said through my radio.

"C_lick._ I'm going to the river."

"Damnit you fool, we don't know how many there are, you'll likely die!" Eddy yelled.

_Click._ I turned my radio off and Eric did the same.

"You with me?" I asked Eric.

"Always."

_**9:40 am, Whittlsey docks, near the river.**_

"STOP!" Eric yelled.

5 crazies ran into the road and I plowed through them. All 5 of them were down, leaving my windshield cracked and I crashed into a pole.

"OUT!" I yelled.

Eric and I rushed out of the car and started dropping anything that moved. After finishing off the people we hit and killing 4 more stragglers we made our way towards the area where the call had supposedly come from. There were dead bodies scattered around, shots to the chest and head.

"ARRGHHH!!!" Something growled. Eric and I both turned and saw 10+ maniacs running in our direction. We ran as fast as we could down the beach, stopping every few meters to shoot off a few rounds into the group. Their numbers slowly dwindled until they were completely gone.

"Reloading!" Eric yelled. More growls and yells were coming from around the corner.

"Over here!" It was Ashley. She was hiding in some shack a few meters away.

Eric and I ran over to her and into the shack, we slammed the door shut and were silent all except for our breathing. I peered through a window and saw almost 40 bloodied up lunatics searching for something. _Searching for us..._

"Ashley, god am I glad to see you!" I said. She hugged me and then Eric and I noticed she had a glock in her hand. There was also an old woman in the back.

"I'm Moira." The old woman said.

"Ashley..." I said looking at her gun.

"I know... took me a few seconds to figure it out, but it saved me." She said.

"You ok?"

"Yeah."

"Alex, we have to make a run for the car." Eric said.

"Agreed, are there any more people?" I asked Ashley.

"No, just us."

"Alright, Moira I need you to stick with Eric, Ashley stay with me alright?" They all nodded.

I peered through the window again until it looked relatively clear. _Three, Two, One.._. I kicked the door open and scanned the area with my rifle up. _All clear._

"Let's go, stay as quiet as possible." I said motioning them to follow.

"UURRHGG ARRGHH!!!" _Shit,_ we were spotted.

"RUN!" I yelled.

Eric grabbed the old lady's arm and was practically dragging her while sprinting. Ashley was in front of me and I was covering her the best that I could. Eric and Moira were 10 meters ahead of us now and almost to the car when they were jumped.

"Alex!" My concentration was broken from shooting and I looked back towards the car. A skinny man was chewing on Moira while two more were attacking Eric. Then another one came out of nowhere and tackled Ashley into some rocks.

"Ashley!" I sprinted to her and jumped into the rocks, landing on my knee in the process. _Shit that hurt._ I saw some teenager with a skater t-shirt on trying to get a bite on Ashley, she was bloodied up from the fall and barely holding him back.

I grabbed my knife, pulled on her attacker's hair to give me clean shot a his neck, and plunged the blade into his throat. Just as I was throwing him off Ashley two more of those things spotted us. I reached for my rifle and fired off three rounds. Two hits one miss. _You're getting a bit rusty Alex.._

"Come on Ash!" I tried to grab her to come, but she looked badly hurt.

"I.. no.. I don't want to die... just leave me..." She murmured."

"Not a chance." I slung the rifle over my shoulder and picked her up. I swore she was bigger from the last time I remembered her.

I struggled up the rocks, adrenaline was wearing down and the pain from my knee was seeping in again. 100 meters to the car now and there were crazies scattered all over the area, one spotted me and alerted the others with a monstrous growl before his head was blown off by Eric.

"Hurry up!" He yelled.

I ran as fast as I could with Ashley in tow, who was barely holding onto consciousness. Those things were gaining on me at an alarming rate so I called on my reserves of energy, bit my lip, and ran through the pain as fast a my limp would allow me.

Eric was picking off those things best he could, but there were too many of them and they were right on my tail.

"Hold on Ashley..." I mumbled

_10 meters away._

"Eric start the car!" He ran to the drivers side and started it up. _Good thing I left the keys in the ignition._

When I got to the car I threw Ashley in the back seat and brought my knife up as I turned around and slashed one of their throats. The other one I through over my shoulder and stabbed in the neck, but it wasn't enough, he was grabbing on my leg as Eric drove.

"Get off you bastard!" I yelled. It was a short woman who had grabbed hold of my boot and was being dragged on the road with half of my body out of the car. I managed to throw her off with a well placed kick to the forehead and closed the door.

"Ashley... Shit..." I looked over her injuries and she was bruised and had numerous abrasions on her forehead and arm. She was bleeding from the head as well as other areas.

"What's... Wrong..." She said, eyes still open and looking at me.

"Look at me Ash, don't close your eyes, whatever you do just keep looking at me!" I said in desperation.

"We'll be back at the station in a few minutes, how is she?" Eric asked. What he really meant is _was she bitten._

"Not good, just get us there. Get on the radio and tell them we need a doctor!" Eric did just that.

I unbuttoned the shirt I was wearing and placed it under Ashley's head. That was the most serious wound and the one I was concentrating on first. Other than that all I could do was pray. I had wanted to be a doctor as a second choice just like my mother, but never got around to it. _Damn I wish I took some classes._

"We're here!" Eric slammed on the brakes.

I carried her out of the car and into the station then found an empty office room and put her on a desk.

"We there yet...?" She was still conscious which was very good.

"What the hell is this?" Harry asked.

"This is Ashley now get the hell out of my way."

"Ey we can't have that here shes infected. Goto move her to the cells!" Eddy said.

"Get anywhere near her and I will kill you." I stated very hostile manner. He stepped off. Ross pulled Eddy back into another room and Harry remained.

"We have a doctor from one of the warehouses coming... We need to move her to the cells." Harry said.

"We're not moving her to the bloody cell!" I yelled.

"There are beds there damnit." I reluctantly agreed and carried her over there myself. Eric and Harry followed.

Ally came in just as I placed her on the bed and she had the doctor with her. He was a man of middle eastern decent that was tall and average looking.

"What have we got here?" He asked.

"I don't know, she fell and hit her head, there are some other abrasions..." I said, backing off and allowing the doctor some room.

"Alright... I think she suffered a mild concussion, the rest are just cuts and bruises and..."

"And what?" I asked.

"I can't tell if she's... if she's bitten or not." He said.

"Harry, we have a problem. I need you in the comm room immediately." Dan said from the doorway.

"Alright I'll be right there. Ross, lock the cell, do whatever you can for her. And Eddy, keep the hell away from them." And with that Harry exited.

"Alex..."

"Lock me in with her." I said. Ross did just that.

The doctor, Ross, and Eddy left. Leaving me in the cell alone with Ashley. Ally and Eric were on the outside sitting at the desks. I didn't care if Ashley was infected or not. _She's not infected._.. I continued to dab some of her cuts with a towel and prayed that she wasn't infected.


	31. Nothing Else Matters

_**Day 1, August, 17, 12:25 pm, Wilkes' Residence.**_

_Knock... Knock..._

The house looked like it had been ransacked by pirates. Anything that could be broken, was. Anything that was white had either dirt or blood caked to it. Everything was toppled over, couches, chairs, his plasma screen television he bought a month ago, plants... his livelihood had been destroyed, but he didn't give a damn about that. All he cared about was his family,_ nothing else mattered._ The world could've been ending for all he cared, as long as he was with his family. _Oh wait, the world IS ending..._

"Ange..." He was cut off when he caught site of a pool of blood forming in the kitchen. He was reluctant at first to check it out, afraid of what he might find. It was a man and a woman, clearly not his beloved wife and daughter. _Thank god..._

"Where are you guys..." He mumbled.

_Knock... Knock..._

He heard it again. A muffled thumping coming from upstairs.

"Please God..."

Slowly, Harry ascended the stairs, imagining his wife and daughter would just appear safe and sound, and trying to will that imagination into reality with his non-existant telepathic powers.

"Please Angela... Please..."

He turned the corner and almost tripped over a dead man that had a bullet through his head. The man looked pretty young, he might've been handsome if it weren't for the blood pouring down his arm, coming out of the gap where his throat used to be, and streaming from the hole in his head.

He had insisted Angela get a gun and taught her how to use it. Great 20th anniversary present he thought so. It was mostly for him though, worried since he couldn't always be at home. After a kid was murdered 5 blocks away near the river, he didn't want to take any chances.

_Knock... Knock..._

"Angela..." He ventured.

The knocking only became louder and went off more frequently

_Thump! Thump! Thump!_

"Angela...?" He ventured again.

"Raaawwrrgghhh..." _Thump! Thump!_

The door was dented in numerous places, blood smeared over it's white paint.

_**18 years earlier...**_

It was in the evening, their two boys were at a friends house so Harry and Angela had the house all to themselves. They were cuddling on the couch making out in front of a muted television and talking in between breathes. Angela was 4 months pregnant with a girl.

"Have you thought of a name yet?" Angela asked.

"I don't know, how about CJ?" Harry said.

"CJ is a boys name--"

"It can be a girl's too!"

"I want to name her Bridgette after my mother." Angela said.

"I don't care what the name is, as long as she's healthy." Harry said before kissing his wife passionately.

After having two boys, Harry wanted a daughter and practically begged his wife for one more, who happily complied. The day she divulged the wonderful news was the happiest day of his 30 year old life.

"She's going to be a pro tennis player." Harry said.

"No, a doctor most definitely!" Angela joined in.

"What! She will be better than a bloody doctor."

"You just want her to do tennis cause you could never hack it in college." Angela joked.

"Hey, it's a fun sport, the boys are too obsessed with rugby, this is my last chance woman!"

Harry dug his face into his wife's black hair and took a deep breathe. He was addicted to his wife's pleasant smell, it gave him comfort, and even after 10 years of marriage, he was still very much in love with his wife as she was with him.

"I love you." Angela said.

"I love ya too babe." Harry replied, putting his hand protectively over her pregnant stomach and engaging in a passionate kiss that he never wanted to end...

_**18 years later...**_

_Thump! Thump! Thump! _"Raarwwghhh!"

Harry dropped to his knees and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Why..."

He fell completely over and buried his face in the carpet, content to just lay there until death came to take him away from this place. All he had to accompany him was the ever present thumping.

_Thump... Thump..._

_

* * *

_

_**Day 5, August, 21, 1:20 pm, Whittlesey police station. Harry's office.**_

It had been a few hours since the whole fiasco with the little girl and those two army boys, Harry just washed away the problems of the world with his good friend Jack Daniels. He was never much of a drinker after he quit for his wife. She hated the stuff so he promised her he would never indulge in the vice ever again. _And he had kept that promise for 30 years._

"Well, what do we do now? Drink, drink, drink, drink!" Harry said before chugging until he choked.

"Stupid bastard!" He yelled, throwing the bottle against his locked office door. _CRACK!_

This caused a lot of noise and worried some of his underlings...

"Haha underlings... Yes, I am the grandmaster, I will send my children into battle, DESTROY THE HEATHENS!" He yelled.

_Knock! Knock!_

"Ey Harry everything ok in there?" Dan asked from the other side of the door.

"Piss off!" Harry replied.

"Now where was I..."

He rolled around the office in his chair, taking books and police manuals and throwing them around. Then fiddled with his gun.

"Hello, I'll call you grim... Hello grim, I am Harry..."

The gun didn't reply.

"ANSWER ME DAMNIT!" He yelled at his glock.

Anger hit him again and he threw a few more books into his lamp before taking another swig from his back-up bottle. He had come across a liquor store during the supply runs and had enough alcohol to drink himself to death. _Perfect._

"Ha ha ha... ha ha ha... YES! You will do my bidding Grim, I am your master, I am THE master!" He said, took two more swigs then spun around in his chair once more. The gun then started to move up towards his head, as if it had a mind of it's own. It rested on his temple, and his finger started to squeeze...

_"Harry...?"_

"Wha... who was that?!" Harry yelled.

_"Harry...?"_

"An... Angela...? Where are you? I want to go with you... please take me away..." Harry fell off his chair and started crying again.

"NO WAIT!" Harry yelled again.

"Where are you! Come back! WAIT!" He yelled yet again, but it was no use.

He had to lead the community. People were counting on him, but he didn't care. All Harry could think about was a way to die, but every time he came to the moment of reckoning all he could see was his wife's eyes staring back at him through their son, Ross.

Ross had her raven black hair and piercing brown eyes. He was like her in a lot of ways, loving and compassionate, calculating, and always level-headed.

"Please.. I didn't mean it.. I'll stop..." He dropped the bottle and it rolled around, spilling the liquid all over the hardwood floor.

Eddy on the other hand bore resemblance to Harry, he was like him in a lot of ways too. Very reckless, cold hearted in more ways than one, and driven to complete his mission no matter what the cost. A natural born survivor.

Yes, Harry was cold hearted in many ways, but his Angela had brought out the best in him. A compassionate loving husband and father.

The room was spinning and Harry was still lying with his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. His thoughts turned back to his lovely wife and beautiful daughter. He was so very proud of his daughter, she was his life. Then he slowly started to black out.

"No... Come back..." He cried out futilely at the image of his dear sweet Bridgette.

"Bridge... please... I'm sorry..." He was fighting to keep conscious.

"I'm... sorry... couldn't... protect you..."

He then passed out.

* * *

**_A/N: I need some feedback. Everything ok so far? Characters believable? Direction of story still interesting? There anything you would like to see? Any other suggestions?_**


	32. My Girls

It was cold and musty, fog obscured any discernible shapes in what looked like a never ending basement. There was a single light hanging from the ceiling, illuminating a small figure of a girl.

"Alex..." A voice echoed throughout the expanse

"Who.. Who is that?" I called out.

"Alex..." The voice called out again.

I slowly walked over to the figure until I heard thumping coming from all around me. It started out slowly at first, but picked up momentum until it was deafening. Growls soon joined in the symphony and I fought off the impulse to cover my ears.

"ASHLEY!" I called out to the figure, the noise was too loud though, so I ran over to her.

She was facing away from me.

"Ashley?"

"We have to go now, they're going to get in. Come on!" I yelled.

I reached for her shoulder and spun her around. As soon as I did that, I saw blood on her teeth, and dripping from her mouth. It was open and the look on her face was that of a rabid animal, her eyes were absent, showing only a black abyss in place of the beautiful eyes I had become accustomed to.

"RAWWRGGH!" She yelled and lunged for my face...

----------------------

_**Day 5, August, 21, 1:20 pm, Whittlesey police station.**_

"Wha...!" I awoke and the abrupt realization of the real world tore through my brain. It took me a few seconds to regain complete consciousness.

I noticed I was still in the cell that I had been locked in a few hours earlier. I looked down and saw Ashley resting her head on my lap and slowly stroked her light blond hair with my fingers. It was now somewhat matted with blood from the head injury.

"Bad dream?" A familiar voice asked me.

Ally was sitting at the desk looking at some papers.

"Eric went to help with training of some of the men. I had to strongly insist he get some fresh air."

"You don't look too well either." She added in.

"No... I guess not." I replied.

"They're working on how many people we lost at the beach, so far it looks to be around 25-30."

"Really..." I said in an uninterested tone.

She got up from her chair and unlocked the cell door.

"Come on Alex, she'll be fine, you need some air."

I was still petting Ashley's hair, and everything in me told me that I should stay and protect her, but I was just too exhausted, having a little trouble breathing, and perspiring heavily after what just happened.

"I'll be there in a minute."

I gently placed Ashley's head on the pillow and walked out of the cell, Ally then locked it and with one look back at Ashley, I walked out with Ally.

We walked outside for about 3 minutes in silence until we got near the railroad tracks parallel to the forested area.

"So you've taken quite a liking to Ashley eh?" Ally broke the silence.

"Well, she lost everyone... I have to take care of her... ya know?" I said.

"Yes I understand... You know I still think you're soft."

"But in a good way." She added in.

"And I think you're still... uh, un-soft." _Doh, un-soft? You idiot._

"Un-soft?" She said with an amused smile.

"Well it's certainly nicer than a cold bitch wouldn't you say so?"

"Oh so you thought I was a cold bitch when we first met?" She said, I didn't know if she was amused or getting angry.

"Well you did shoot that guy Richard."

"He was infected!" She yelled. _Yep, definitely angry_.

She started walking again, this time into the woods that were across the railroad tracks.

"Hey Ally, come back, I'm sorry... I didn't mean it in a bad way." I said, following her.

"It's not safe in there!" I called to her.

She ignored me and walked into the woods until we were completely alone and out of sight, in the thick of the trees. I came to her where she stopped on a small clearing and sat down on a small collapsed tree.

"You know I come here often to be alone. I know it's not safe, but it's nice away from all those people..." She said quietly.

"Hey, what's bothering you?" I said softly, taking a seat next to her on the log.

"You have a family, yeah? Of course you do... Tell me about them please." She asked.

"Well... My father was in the army and my mother was a doctor... I have two sisters. Andrea who's 2 years older than me and Cheryl who's only 9." I said.

"No... tell me what they're like..." She said, it looked for a second like she was going to break down and start crying.

"Well, Andrea wanted--_wants _to be a doctor just like my mother... She's really strong, doesn't let anything get her down and she looks out for me a lot. My little sister, well she's a lot like Ashley, very positive and is very strong when she needs to be..."

"Heh, well that explains a few things." She said.

"Hey I know Ash isn't my little sister, so don't take it there alright?" I snapped.

"Alright alright."

"Sorry, didn't mean to yell." I apologized.

She rested her head on my shoulder and much to my surprise, put an arm around my waist.

"You remember what I said back at the farm house? About my brother?" She whispered.

"Yes... He was in London?"

"Yeah... I've been having dreams about him the past 2 days." She finished.

"He was like you in a lot of ways, minus the hair, eyes, and he was much taller, but still he was stupid and it got him killed..."

"You callin me stupid?" I joked.

"He's a psychiatrist, and when this shit started happenin he went over to the hospital to help out." She said.

"I'm sorry..." I said.

"No, I loved him and he died doing what he lived for, helping people, and you... just--just don't do something stupid like you did today, you could've died... please."

I put my arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. We sat like that for a few minutes until I checked my watch. _2:30, shit, Ashley._

"Ally, hey, I've left Ashley long enough I really goto get back." I said.

"Alright..."

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself, it's too dangerous."

She complied and we walked back to the station. Her head was down the entire way and she walked close to me. When we got to the station I saw Eric across the street with 3 guys showing them how to hold a gun properly. He nodded to be and gave me a thumbs up, I nodded back and smiled.

_"Something is really wrong with dad..." _I overheard Ross talking to Eddy. The door to the office they were in was open.

I quickly walked the other way and into the cell room where Ashley was still sound asleep.

"Would ya open it for me?" I asked Ally.

She complied and I went down and sat on the bed beside Ashley who stirred awake.

"Hey there sweetheart, you doin all right?" I asked.

"Alex... please don't leave..."

"I had a dream that I was in a basement---that I attacked you... I'm sorry... am I going to turn into one of them?" She whispered.

"No, no most definitely not. Here drink some of this." I held up some water and she drank.

"Please... stay with me..." She pulled my arm around her and rested her head on my chest.

"Alright, I'm not going anywhere." I said, slumping into a more comfortable position.

She was clearly terrified that she would turn into one of those heartless demons and I didn't blame her. After all of the things she had seen, it would've tested the resolve of anyone. _Don't worry dear, I won't let anything happen to you, I promise._ I only wished I could keep that promise...


	33. There's a First Time For Everything

_**12:30 am, 1998**_

"Ugghh... Ahhhh---!" I heard a shrill scream then it was cut off.

I was jogging in the park like I usually did, only a bit later in the evening this time. My sister warned me of freaks out this time of night and to be careful, but I payed little attention to her._ I could take care of myself._

"Ahh--!" There it was again, closer. I walked towards the sounds and a woman who looked no older than 30 was running towards me.

She was pretty badly scraped up, blood on her torn clothes and tears coming down her face. She took one look at me and ran in my direction. I hesitated at first, but she was pretty badly hurt so I instinctively went into protective mode.

"Please... Please help me!" She said through broken sobs.

"What's wrong?" I said, approaching her.

"He's coming... He's coming please..."

"Who? Who's coming?" I was getting very spooked out and everything in my body told me to run for my life.

It was pitch black outside with cloud cover obscuring the moon and stars, a slight cool breeze made it a chilly night. Then it showed up. A shadowy figure in a big coat and hat, wielding a knife. The sight of that shadowy figure took the breathe out of me.

"Him!" She darted off again, leaving me standing their unable to move.

It felt like an eternity before he slowly started walking towards me. He didn't even run, just walked like it was no big deal. My fight or flight instincts were battling each other, and my flight instinct won. I sped off in the same direction of the woman as fast as I could.

I rounded a corner and hopped a park bench. All of the park lamp posts were off that night for some odd reason. _Coincidence? I think not._

"Hey... stop!" The same woman from earlier cried out.

"I tripped, it hurts please help... my ankle!" She started crying again.

"Who the hell is that lady?" I asked, sounding scared shitless.

"He is... he..." She didn't finish that sentence as her eyes fixated on something behind me.

I didn't want to turn around. I wanted to wish it all away and be in a different place, but things didn't work that way so I slowly got up from my crouching position and turned around. There, standing 6 meters away, was the shadowy figure in a trench coat and a hat.

Words cannot describe how afraid I was. Suffice to say, I was unable to breathe, let alone yell for help.

"Jessica..." The man said in a very deep, raspy voice.

"No... no please." She started crawling away.

I stood between the woman and her unknown assailant. Again, my fight or flight instincts battled each other. But this time, I decided for myself. _I would fight._

"Ey... hey piss off or I'll call the cops." I tried to sound intimidating, but failed miserably. I was only 15 after all.

"Ha ha ha ha..." He had a nefarious laugh that made me rethink my decision.

Suddenly, he walked towards me again, then ran. Knife drawn back, he jumped at me, but I was smaller and I squirmed out of his grip before he could bring his weapon down on me. Then I jumped onto his knife hand and we wrestled for control.

Somewhere in the struggle I had enough leverage to turn the knife around and the man with it.

"Ugghh..." He gasped.

He fell on the blade. It plunged into his stomach. I had killed someone. S_o this is how it felt?_

"Wha.." The woman started, but cut herself off. Then darted off once again in a limp.

I stood there for 20 minutes, speechless, unable to move, then ran as fast as I could back home. I didn't know what to do, I just wanted to get to safety, to my home. I was on autopilot the entire way and before I knew it I was hunched over on my front lawn.

"Alex!" My sister called out from the open door.

"Alex, my god what happened?" She had the genuine look of concern on her face when she saw the blood and dirt on my clothes.

"I... I... don't..." I tried to explain it, but nothing would come out.

"Come inside, it's cold out." She said.

Andrea helped me up and into the kitchen where she took out a first aid kit.

"Where are you hurt?" She asked.

"It's..."

"Oh for gods sake spit it out man."

"It's not my blood." I said bluntly, staring at the floor.

"Oh my god Alex... who's is it? Alex, who's is it?!" She yelled.

"A man attacked me and I... the woman... I don't know."

"I'm calling the police." She said, picking up the phone.

After she called the cops she took me over to the couch and gave me a glass of water.

"Alex, what happened, where's Eric wasn't he with you?" She asked.

"I don't, no I can't, it was an accident, I didn't mean to, I was just defending myself."

"It's alright, don't worry you're safe now." She said, rubbing my back.

She put her arm around me and I buried my face on her shoulder and tears involuntarily followed.

"I'll call mom and dad to come back." She offered.

"No. It's ok, I'll be fine. You're here, it's fine." I said.

my parents were visiting some relatives with my little sister. Andrea and I couldn't get off school so we stayed. She was only 17, but my parents trusted her to hold down the fort for the week.

"It's going to be fine Alex, you're safe now don't worry." She tried to comfort.

"I killed him." I stated bluntly. The tears stopped and I looked up and stared at her...

* * *

I stared blankly at her. Ally had fallen asleep at her desk, and Ashley was still resting her head on my chest. It had been a few hours since she had fallen asleep and I was just staring at the ceiling, occasionally glancing over at Ally writing stuff down on paper before she fell asleep. 

Was I afraid of Ashley turning into on of them during this time? _I don't know_. _Was she infected? I don't know._

"Hey you." Eric walked in.

"Oh oops, how long have they been out?" He whispered.

"A few hours." I whispered back.

Eric got the keys from Ally's sleeping form and opened the cell door as quietly as he could.

"Come with me, there's a problem." He said.

I slowly got out of Ashley's grip and placed her head on the pillow then walked out with Eric, who locked the cell door.

"How is she?" He asked.

"Not good, drifting in and out of consciousness, lost a lot of blood, bruised up pretty badly. Still can't tell if she's... you know." I said.

"Yeah, listen I called you out here because there are some rumors amongst the civ pop that there are soldiers here and some people are riled up about it. They don't like us very much heh." He explained.

"Also, when I went to talk with Harry about it, Dan turned me away. I think somethin is wrong with 'em." He added in.

I checked my watch, _5:26, damn._

"How long ago did this happen?" I asked.

"About an hour ago when I was working with some of the guys."

We made it to the 2nd floor and in front of Harry's office were his sons and Dan. Ross and Eddy were at the door trying to get in while Dan was at the desk.

"I already told ya mates, he's locked it from the inside and won't come out." Dan said.

"Dad, open up it's Ross."

"Open the bloody door damnit." His other son yelled.

"Oh what the hell do you want?" Eddy said as he turned to us.

"We need to talk to Harry." I said. "It's important."

"Oh, well I don't give a damn, he won't answer the door anyway." Eddy replied.

"Ed piss off. What do ya need Alex?" Ross asked.

"This about you guys and the rumors floatin around about bein in the army and all?" Eddy said.

"You little prick what the fuck did you do!?" Eric yelled, rushing towards Eddy.

I held him back. I don't know why I did it since I wanted a piece of the little shit myself, but that wouldn't help us in the long run. Ross shoved Eddy out of the room and told him to put in a shift at the comm.

"Guys, I'm sorry I don't really know anything about that. Look Harry is--" Before Ross could finish Harry's door opened.

Before the door was closed I could see the inside of his office was a mess. Books had been thrown around, broken glass and other items scattered about. Harry himself looked like crap and smelled like alcohol.

"I am going outside now, I may be gone for a long time." And with that, Harry walked away...


	34. God Will Give Me Justice

_**A/N: This might be the last chapter of Harry's pov.**_

* * *

_**Day 1, August, 17, 3:50 pm, Whittlesey police station.**_

"Where the hell is Harry..." Ross mumbled to himself.

There was a small congregation of men in the comm room waiting for more news from ground squads all over the city. Suffice to say, it was all crap. Their leader was MIA and officers were dropping like flies all over the city. So far no threat was made on the station, but the air unit had reported massive crowds migrating towards Petersborough.

"Ross, sir, we got a call from the Haggertys outside of town, they need some assistance." Oliver said.

Oliver was a teenager who volunteered at the station quite often. He was very friendly and wanted to eventually join the service, so it was like work experience for him.

"Don't we all?" Ross replied.

"Sir, I know those guys... They have a lot of guns there and they say there's about 10 people with them." Oliver replied.

"We've got out own problems boy!" Eddy yelled.

"Ed, cool it. Oliver you know where it is?" Ross asked.

"Yeah he said they're in a farmhouse right outside of town. I can show you." Oliver replied.

"Okay, Johnny, Nicolas, gonna need you on this." Ross said to two officers in the other room.

"I'll go too!" Dan yelled.

"Damnit... Alright, but you don't get a bloody gun, we need these people alive. Ed you hold things together till we get back alright?" Ross said.

"Yeah sure, don't do anything stupid." Ed said and waved goodbye to his little brother.

---------

_**Wilkes' Residence.**_

_Thump... Thump..._

"Angela!" Harry snapped up calling out his wife's name. Then he came to the realization of the current situation. He got to his knees, then stepped to his feet. The thumping hadn't stopped, they were still behind the door.

"Rooaarrghh!!" _Thump! Thump! Thump!_

He slowly aimed his MP5 up at the door.

"Please forgive me..." _BANG! BANG! BANG! ._..

With his eyes closed, he emptied the magazine through the door then there was just silence. Harry didn't bother checking the door and instead walked back down the stairs and to the front door. Taking one look at his home, he said goodbye and left.

_30 minutes later..._

It was slow. He wasn't going anywhere, had no reason to anymore. The squad car drove passed the wreckages in the relatively quiet, yet ravaged streets of Whittlesey. His town, the town he moved to from Petersborough to get married to his wife and start a family. When he got to the station he pulled into the police lot and parked the car. He just sat there and rested his head on the wheel.

-----

_10 hours earlier..._

"Dad wake up! Dad!" Long dark brown hair tickled his face and he opened his eyes.

"Bridge, what time is it, bloody hell... I had a long night, let a man sleep for gods sake!" Harry checked his watch,_ 6 am_, _damn woman_.

"The power went out, news said it was something to do with crazy people messing around at the power station or something I don't know, but anyways listen this weekend it's Rick's birthday and we were gonna take a trip..." His daughter bugged him until he finally got out of bed.

"You're not goin anywhere, what did your mom say?" Harry said.

"She said to ask you." Bridgette said with a sad face.

"I knew I shoulda built a dungeon and locked you in." He said jokingly.

"I'll think about it, just let me sleep in a few more minutes!" Harry said, getting back into bed.

Bridgette made a weird chirping noise from her excitement and gave her father a huge hug then went back out the bedroom door.

"Damn... already awake." Harry mumbled.

Rick was his daughter's girlfriend, so naturally he disliked the boy. He was a year older than her and going to school to become some sort of specialist accident lawyer or something, but the main thing was that he had no criminal record. Harry checked. The smell of breakfast invaded his senses and he knew his lovely wife was making pancakes.

"Well now is as good a time as any." He said to himself and got out of bed.

_10 hours later..._

-----

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep..._

Harry had passed out again, this time on the horn which caused some of the officers to rush out towards the squad car that Harry was in.

"Harry, sir, we have a situation here---" Jake, the rookie from the comm department started to say.

"Where the hell have you been!?" Eddy interrupted.

Harry ignored them all and walked back to the station leaving 4 people behind him with confused looks on their faces.

"Harry!" Ed yelled after him.

"Not now damnit!"

Harry walked into his office followed closely by Eddy.

"Damnit, answer me, what happened?" Eddy asked.

"They're DEAD! Both of them, is that what you want to know? DEAD! Now get the fuck out of my

office!" Harry yelled.

"I'll... I'll call Ross..." Eddy managed to get out as he left the office.

_Knock. Knock._

"Sir, it's Jake... we're uh getting some people outside, they look okay should we let them in?" He asked

through the door.

"I'll be out there in a minute." Harry replied.

He simply stowed away his anger at the world for another time and went to his task. His people needed him, and for the time being he would run the place until he died or someone better came along. Harry walked down to the first floor and there were about 40+ people waiting outside in trucks, some of them had guns, demanding to be let in. Four officers held the door and refused entrance.

"Let them in." Harry ordered.

People poured in, bringing their belongings, food, water, and guns.

"Thanks mate, it's pretty bad out there, glad we could find a safe place!" A dark man who called himself John said.

What the hell am I going to do with all of these people, he thought. Harry didn't have enough room in the station to keep his men and all of these people, nor the supplies. He decided to resign to his office and hack out a plan.

"Jake come with me." He ordered. He also told 4 other officers to get the people situated, and to lock up the doors again.

"Where's Ross?" Harry asked once they were in his office.

"He took a few guys to get some survivors at the Haggerty place outside of town."

"Damnit... alright, listen you know those empty warehouses by the railroad tracks about 5 kilometers from here?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I know you--"

"Good, we need to get the people there, we can't handle this many at the station, too many people... they might turn..."

"Excuse me sir? Turn?"

"Just do it!"

The rookie jumped to attention and ran out the door. What had Harry meant by turn? He had observed people being killed and then like it was an every day thing, walked away and joined the crowd. Turned. _What could they have turned in to...?_

As Harry was left alone, his thoughts strayed to his wife and daughter, right now he couldn't afford to be distracted, but in the back of his mind he made a promise to avenge his family, whoever was responsible, they would be brought to justice._ He would have justice if it was the last thing he did..._


	35. Coup de Grâce

_**Present, Day 5, August, 21, 6:00 pm, Whittlesey police station.**_

It was a half hour since Harry had just walked off to god knows where and the officers at the station were a little restless after seeing their leader abandon them.

"What the hell are you going to do?" Ross asked.

Ross, Eddy, Eric, and I were in his office looking at the mess and discussing what was to be done. Eddy wasn't too happy about it, but Ross wouldn't have it. Ross seemed to be more level-headed whereas Eddy's attitude was contrary to his younger brother.

"He's lost it Ross, after mom and Bridge died he's been losing it, haven't you seen that?" Eddy yelled.

"Well... It was just his way of dealing with it..." Ross said.

"His way of dealing with it is going to get us killed!" Eddy replied.

"Oh and what are you going to do? Kick people out? Kill them? Are you going to lead us?" Ross stated sarcastically.

"Pack it in you two, you're like a couple of old women!" I yelled, earning both of their undivided attention.

I had unintentionally grabbed the floor and they were all waiting for me to say something. There was nothing to be said. We were bollocksed, simple as that.

"He left you two in charge, so deal with it." I added.

"Well you're quite the details man, Alex." Ross said sarcastically.

"We're not kicking anyone out I don't give a shit!" Ross went back at it with Eddy.

"Then you're a bloody fool, we can't last out here like this." Eddy replied.

I pulled Eric out of the room and let the two battle it out by themselves then went down to the jail cell area. There Ally was sitting there reading a 6 day old newspaper and Ashley was still sleeping.

"Ey Alex, I'm gonna turn in for the day and head back to the warehouses, you gonna stay here?" Eric said.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, say hey to the guys for me." I replied.

"Sure thing mate, evenin' Ally, take care of him." And with that, Eric.

I took a seat by Ally and let out a big yawn.

"So how are they doin?" She asked.

"Who?"

"Ed and Ross."

"Oh them." I said. "They're at it right now, doesn't look good."

"I trust Ross to make the best decision." She said confidently. "But Ed, he's a bit of a fool if you ask me."

"Really. And what did Ross do to earn your respect in only 2 days?" I asked.

"Well I've been on two raids and he's... well like you, always puttin others before himself, doing all that's in his power to get in and get out without anyone dying." She answered.

"Oh come on flattery will get you no where with me." I said jokingly.

"But really, what do you think is going to happen?" She asked. "I mean is Harry coming back?"

"I don't know, but listen, whatever happens stick with me alright? I don't see a good ending for this." I finished.

* * *

_**Day 5, 7:00 pm, outside of Warehouse A and B**_

Eric walked to the front of _Warehouse A_ and greeted the guards and Olivia.

"Evenin Olivia, how goes it?"

"Not bad Eric, everything alright at you know where?" Olivia asked.

"Ah, heard about the thing eh?" Eric said.

"Yeah... kinda has people riled up around here, they're blaming the police station, I've been spending the entire afternoon trying to calm them down, we lose almost 20 people!"

"It's pretty bad, I don't have the details right now. There any food? I'm starving." Eric asked.

"We're actually out... lunch was the last meal, now we have nothing... But I can scrounge up an IMP if ya want that." Olivia said.

"Uh... sure I guess, if that's all that's left." Eric answered.

"Okay well I goto go handle a few things, drop by my tent before bed and I'll have you squared away."

Olivia gave a mock salute and went into the warehouse.

Eric walked into _Warehouse B_ to find his new friend John the football player. Passing by he earned a few awkward stares from different people that creeped him out.

"Ey you, heard anything about some army guys here?" A tall man with black hair said. He had a 'crew' with him and they were all in their late 30s early 40s.

"Cause ya know, the army tucked tail and ran like a bunch of pansies, so I figure they're just rumors ya know." The man said again, crossing his arms.

"Uh, no I don't know what you mean... Look I'm tryin to find John you seen him around?"

"Don't change the subject mate, we were just tryin to make a new friend, come on new let me get ya a beer. Oh! Ha ha, that's right THERE IS NO BEER IS THERE? And why is that Hugh?" The man said.

"Heh Jed, that's cause the country has gone to hell in a hand basket and the bloody government sent us there!" Hugh said.

"First of all I'm not your mate and you---" Eric started before he was cut off.

"Ey what are you boys doin! Piss off and go bug someone else." John came to the rescue.

John pulled Eric out of there.

"Sorry about that mate, people around here are gettin antsy, food bein out and all." John said.

"Yeah yeah no worries."

"So what can I do for ya?" John asked.

"Just seein how you're doin is all."

"Well not good, we're completely out of food, people are getting antsy like I said, wanting to take it out on the guards, I can't control 'em anymore!"

Suddenly 8 men started walking towards John and Eric, they were armed with glocks and C-7s and they looked driven to the point of murder...

* * *

_**Back at the police station, same time...**_

"Damnit Eddy, we have to work together, fighting is getting us nowhere!" Ross yelled.

"You're right... We're screwed aren't we heh. But ya know what I don't give a damn anymore. I'm going to survive so fuck all of you. We don't have anymore food, raids are too dangerous and aren't getting us

anywhere. This whole shithole is falling apart at the seams, but I am going to fucking survive so get the hell out of my way!" Eddy yelled, then shoved Ross out of the way and walked out the door.

Ross sat on the table stumped with the current situation. What could he do? Eddy was right, they were screwed. The dead were now thick in the streets, obviously done with their conquest of Petersborough, and hindering any attempt at supply run they could muster. _They were out of options..._

"We're bollocksed..." He mumbled.

* * *

_**Jail cell area, same time...**_

"Alex, things could be worse ya know." Ally said.

"Yeah I know." I replied. "Just tell me, exactly how much fuel do ya have in the armory is all I want to know!"

"Alex! We're---"

_WHAM!_

I saw Eddy burst through the door and pull his glock out.

_BANG! BANG!_

He emptied his magazine into Ashley's cell.

I stood there, rage reaching the boiling point, imagining the different ways I could kill this man. Officers rushed in to see what the commotion was.

"Not now... Not me..." I heard Eddy mumble.

That set me off. I jumped on top of Eddy, knocking the gun away and started pounding my fists on his face with reckless disregard for my own safety. I only got a few hits in before 3 officers pulled me off. I saw Ally staring on in disbelief, I couldn't believe it myself. She then went over to check Ashley, _but I knew she was dead..._

* * *

_**Warehouse B, same time...**_

"Back the hell off Jed!" John yelled at the leader of the pack.

"I don't think so, give 'em up and you won't be hurt." Jed said.

"Piss off you little prick!" Eric yelled.

Onlookers were gathering, some joining in with Jed and his gang, others just minding their own business and avoiding any potential crossfire.

"So how is it? You missed the train outa this hell hole eh soldier boy?" Hugh said mockingly.

"JED, back the fuck off NOW!" John yelled once again.

"No... no John, get yourself out of here, they won't back off..."

The men wanted a sacrifice for the wrongs they had suffered, _and they were going to use Eric.._.

* * *

_**Warehouse A, same time...**_

"Olivia!" Jane yelled. Joe was behind her.

"I heard you! There's no food, I told you!" Olivia yelled.

People were getting angry with her that the food didn't come on time.

"What did ya think food grows on trees?! Er well bad example... I'll say it again, we don't have any food!" She yelled.

"What the fuck are you gonna do about it? We're bein screwed over by the police just like with the army!" Someone in the crowd yelled.

Jimy busted through the crowd, using his huge frame to knock people out of the way. He grabbed hold of Olivia and got her outside.

"Oh thank you for that."

"My pleasure." He said.

Jane, Joe, and Jon came outside. Jon had his new girlfriend with him. Tom followed shortly after.

"What's going on?" Joe asked.

"Ugh.. Don't ask." Olivia replied.

"Jon, deal with this, you're a millionaire promise them some money after all of this! Handle it!" Jenny pleaded with her new boyfriend.

"Uh, Jen, actually we need a different plan..." Jon started.

"A millionaire?" Jimy gave Jon an amused look.

"Hey guys, you seen Eric or Alex around?" Tom jumped in.

"I saw Eric ov---" Olivia started.

Suddenly the gunshots were fired, coming from within the warehouse.

"Shit." Olivia said.

* * *

_**Back at the police station, same time...**_

Ashley was dead, the officers were holding me down while Eddy took cheapshots at me, and Ally was trying to get them off.

_BANG!_

Ross was standing in the doorway and he fired a round into the roof to get our attention.

"What the fuck are you doing!" Ross yelled.

"Stay the fuck out of this Ross." Eddy stated coldly and punched me again.

"I'm not going to ask you again." Ross said, then pointing his gun at Eddy.

* * *

_**Somewhere on the railroad tracks, same time...**_

Harry had been walking, contemplating what to do next. He had thrown up 4 times since he started his walk. His plan was to walk until he collapsed and died, but he heard gunshots coming from the station.

_Gunshots..._

_**4 days earlier...**_

Gunshots rang out from downstairs. Harry rushed down to see what it was, when he got down there were 3 people with bullets in their heads, the people surrounding the bodies looked spooked.

"What the hell happened here?!" Harry yelled.

"They attacked Tina! She's hurt pretty bad." John said.

_BANG!_

"Not anymore..." Harry said.

"What the fuck mate---!" John started.

"OFFICERS. Get these people loaded in the cars and their trucks, we've got a secure place for them."Harry said.

11 officers started leading people out, with their orders to where they were taking them already received a few minutes earlier. John stayed behind.

"Where you takin us?" John asked, a little annoyed.

"There are warehouses, secure, out of the way, safe. We can't keep everyone here." Harry said.

"Well... Alright then... Alright..." John said then followed the other officers.

_**4 days later, present...**_

Harry turned around and started back to the station. For better or worse, this was his problem, time to stop dwelling on the past. His Angela would've wanted him to never give up, but what if it was meant to happen? They couldn't keep this up any longer, they were fooling themselves, the dead were the lucky ones, not them. _Maybe they needed to just end their suffering..._


	36. The Reckoning Pt 1

_**Present, Day 5, August, 21, 7:30 pm, outside of town**_

"Ey captain, you want to check out this town? Looks small, highly likely to be abandoned." A young

Lt yelled over the engines of the convoy.

"How far are we?" The captain asked.

"A few kilometers out."

"Alright, divert course."

The convoy of 4 military utility trucks with 20 passengers changed direction and headed toward the small town of Whittlesey...

* * *

_**Warehouse B, same time...**_

The men approached Eric and John with malicious intentions.

"John I said get out of here!" Eric yelled.

"Not a chance mate." John replied.

"Anything you want to say mate?" Jed asked.

"Yeah... "

As soon as Jed raised his gun Eric lunged for it, spun him around and had him in a headlock, gun pointed to his head.

"Get back! I'll blow his head off, get the fuck back!!! John get the door in the back go now!" Eric yelled.

"You.. .stupid--"

"Shut the fuck up." Eric tightened his grip on the man's neck

Eric and John slipped out the back door with their hostage.

_BANG! BANG!_

"What the hell was that?" Eric yelled.

"Came from the other warehouse, shit."

"Zombie fuckers?" Jed asked.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up." Eric whacked him on the back of the head with the gun and knocked him out. Then put the gun through the handle of the door to hold it shut.

"Let's move." And with that they both ran off.

* * *

_**Outside warehouse A...**_

The guards were fighting with the civilian populace now, the guards were better armed, but heavily outnumbered.

"Run!" Joe yelled. _BANG! _Joe was shot in the back.

"Leave him, we have to get to the station!" Olivia yelled.

Olivia, Jane, Jimy, Tom, Jon and his girlfriend Jenny started running away from the battle and to the station.

"Only thing that'll make this worse is some of those zombie things comin on down ya think?" John said.

"Rooarrghh." _He spoke too soon.._.

* * *

_**Alex, Jail cell area, same time...**_

I was pretty banged up, but managed to escape with Ally and acquire a squad car.

"We have to get out of here!" Ally yelled.

"We need to get Eric is what we need to do." I replied.

I sped down towards the warehouses and noticed some of the dead scattered about. When we got to the warehouses it was crazy, like the first day of all this. People were running around shooting at eachother, other people chasing and jumping on eachother, teeth chomping. _Pure hell_.

"Right there!" Ally pointed to Eric and John running across the courtyard, dodging bullets.

"Eric!" I yelled with the window rolled down.

They came running and hopped in.

"You know where the others are?" I asked.

"No. Get us the hell out of here!" Eric yelled.

Bullets were being fired at us now as well as some of the dead trying to break into the car. It was a lost cause, we couldn't help any of these people, not now. All of the people who were still living were trying to get in now, some were fending off the swarm of dead trying to kill them. The guards and civilians rejoined forces once more, but it was too little too late.

* * *

_**In the woods somewhere, near the railroad tracks...**_

"We need to get to the station, there's gas and guns. I have a car we can use to get outa here." Tom said.

"Agreed." Olivia said, and they all set off towards the station.

Gunshots could still be heard in the distance as well as screams. They all knew that their temporary home and friends were most likely dead.

* * *

_**Outside the station, same time...**_

"We need to send people over there!" Ross yelled at Ed.

"Piss off, we're safe here, enough food and water, we don't need those people!" Eddy yelled.

"You bloody fool." Ross said and walked off.

"Where the hell are you going?" Ed yelled.

"To help!"

Ross got his equipment and went to the cars, then drove in the direction to the warehouses...

* * *

_**On the railroad tracks, approaching the warehouses...**_

All Harry had was one glock, and a knife. But that was all he needed, he didn't expect to come out of this alive. His only thoughts were of protecting his family, he felt he had another chance to do that.

"ARRGGH!!" Three dead came running towards him. He took them down with 3 well placed head shots.

He came to the gates of the warehouse courtyard and there was so much chaos he couldn't tell who was who, but he spotted Ross in the center, fighting off the dead and defending some children. He realized how proud he was of his son just then, he had raised a good man, or rather his wife had.

Seeing one of the last things of his wife in trouble, he jumped into action. Running passed the dead, through gunfire, and fighting off more dead, he made it to the corner where his son was. When he got there he saw he had been bit on the arm and the shoulder.

"Dad I was..." Ross started.

"No, don't. I'm not leaving you, we're in this together." Harry gave his son a nod.

They fought off the hordes of dead, but their ranks swelled with the new arrivals from the warehouses. It was more than they could handle and they were surrounded.

"Ross, over there!" Harry yelled. His son caught his glance and looked over to the side door where a propane container was located.

"Let's go!" Ross said.

Both Harry and Ross had been wounded and infected, but they continued to fight on. Men, women, and even children had turned against them.

Then they ran out of ammo.

"This is my last mag." Harry said.

"I'm out." Ross stated sadly.

Harry gave his son a look, then looked at the propane they had run to. He knew what he needed to do and both father and son exchanged glances which said more words than they had ever said during this entire ordeal.

_BANG!_ The explosion engulfed half the courtyard, killing a majority of dead as well as the living waiting to die...

* * *

_**Just outside of town, military convoy...**_

"Whoa, what the hell was that!?" Lieutenant Taylor said to Captain Garrott.

"I don't know, just keep heading for the station.

"Yessir." She replied.

Lt. Abbey Taylor was 20, fairly new, and had been thrust to second in command following all of the senior officers dying except for the captain. Aiden Garrott was 29, and an officer with a lot of experience. He was leading the convoy which had survived so far thanks to his skillfull leadership.

There were 13 soldiers and 5 civilians besides the two in command. They were right out of Norwich and had been on the run the 5 days since the outbreak occurred.

"Get on the comms and tell everyone to get their weapons ready, I have a bad feeling." Aiden told Abbey.

"Yessir. Attention convoy, attention convoy, stand to attention, possible hostile territory ahead." She said over the radios.


	37. The Reckoning Pt 2

_**Outside the police station...**_

_Bang! Bang!_

"They're shooting at us!" Eric yelled.

"No shit sherlock!" Ally yelled back.

Gunshots were coming from the windows of the station. There were approximately 11 officers holding

down the fort.

"Eric cover me." I said, then rushed to the double doors of the station. Luckily it hadn't been locked or even fortified.

More gunshots rang out and Ally joined me. While John and Eric held their attention we snuck in and went to the armory. An officer jumped out at us, fired three times, and missed. He met two bullets in his chest from my gun.

We got a few containers of gas then ran back to the front door. Before we got out, I noticed someone hiding under the desk. It was Oliver.

"Ey, you, come with us." I ordered.

"I... Okay." He complied then ran outside with us.

Eric and John were taking cover behind the car, still being shot at. We all piled into the car and sped out of the area. I was heading towards the tracks, and to the street that lead out of town. The squad car was riddled with bullet holes, but she was holding up.

* * *

_**Outside the station, 8:00 pm...**_

Olivia lead the rest of the group around the corner and to the police station. It was now dark, so they moved more liberally.

_BANG! BANG!_ "AHHH!!" Jon had been hit twice in the chest.

"Shit, they're shooting at us!" Tom yelled.

"Tom! Take everyone back around the corner and wait for us. Jimy mind helping me?"

Jimy nodded and without a word, the two of them went into the station under cover of darkness. The guards aim was horrible at night and they used that to their advantage. When they entered the station, the guards were too busy with the zombie activity outside to send someone downstairs.

They entered the armory and picked up 3 gas cans and a radio. Jimy found his night stick and stowed it away. Olivia got a glock, a rifle and some other extra supplies. They then went back out, Jimy smashing a few zombies' heads on the way out and back around the corner.

"AHHH!" Two more dead were on top of Jenny while Tom and Jane fought off ones jumping on them.

_BANG! BANG! _Olivia killed them and went over the group.

"Jenny is infected!" Tom said. She had bite marks on her neck and was crying.

_BANG! _Olivia put a round through her head without hesitation.

"Damn woman." Tom said.

"Lets go." She yelled.

Oliver helped up Jane and they all started back out to the tracks. Jon was long dead from the gunshot wounds, but he was spared eternal slavery to the hordes of undeath. And that was the end of Jon, the 19 year old slacker.

* * *

_**The police station...**_

"Damnit people! Dan! Take two men and go secure downstairs." Eddy yelled.

"But sir, those things are down there now!" Dan said shakily.

"I don't care! We need to barricade the entrance and hold the armory." He yelled again.

Dan agreed and took two men with him. There were 5 of those things wandering in the halls and trying to get upstairs, but they took care of them.

"Eddy, ground level is clear, over." Dan said on his radio.

"Have that, out." Came Eddy's reply.

Just then 4 military trucks pulled up to the station, guns firing, killing the weak zombie threat outside the station.

"What the hell..." Eddy mumbled.

"OPEN FIRE BOYS!" He yelled.

Gunshots erupted from the building killing zombies and soldiers alike.

* * *

_**Front street of the station...**_

"They're fucking firing at us sir!" Abbey yelled.

"I can see that Lt. Fire back! Get those trucks moving!" He yelled.

Suddenly more 100+ dead rounded a corner and made their way towards the quartet of trucks.

"Shit, I said get these trucks moving!" Capt Aiden yelled again.

"They're all dead sir!" Abbey yelled over the noise.

The captain looked in his rearview mirror and saw people crawling all over the other trucks. He ordered Abbey to get the hell out of there, but before she could something grabbed her.

"Ahhh! Aide---" It pulled her out before she could cry for help.

Aiden, jumped out of the truck and drew his sidearm. He killed the already dead person trying to eat his second in command then helped her up. Gunfire hailed down all around them and more dead were crawling through their trucks.

"Shit. DAMNIT!" He swore loudly. "RUN!" He grabbed his second in command and left the street, running towards the railroad track area. As they left, more dead showed up and swarmed the police station, they easily broke in and amongst the yells of the dead, screams of living people came from inside...

* * *

_**Railroad tracks...**_

"Shit, we're running out of bloody gas!" I yelled

"Stop the car." John said. I complied and we all piled out.

"_Crsh._.. Anyone there come in? Anyone there? Over." Ally's radio chirped.

It was Olivia.

"Bloody hell is it good to hear ya, you have anyone with you, over?" John asked.

"Yes, I have Jimy, Jane, Tom, and Oliver with me, where are you guys? Over."

"At the railroad tracks, the road leading out of town. It's clear here, over."

"Alright... stay there, we're on our way, out."

John went to the trunk and pulled out the gas cans.

"No wait, this car is shit. We need to wait for the others, Tom has a car." Eric said.

"Alright... Alright then we'll wait... I bloody hate waiting." John said.

* * *

_**Railroad tracks, a few hundred meters from Alex and the rest.**_

"Thanks for helping me back there..." Jane looked to Oliver.

"Uh, sure no prob..." He replied.

_Ugh stupid teenagers, _Tom thought.

Suddenly two people ran out of the streets and onto the railroad tracks in front of them, they didn't look back so the two didn't notice the larger group behind them.

"What the... EY! Over here!" Olivia yelled. They were apparently not one of the dead.

* * *

_**Railroad tracks...**_

Capt. Aiden Garrott stopped when he heard some yelling behind him. It was too dark to make out the figures, but he raised his gun and called out.

"Who's there?"

"Don't shoot, we're not one of them!" The tall woman yelled.

"Yeah, what about your friends at the bloody police station eh?" He yelled.

"No, they aren't our friends... I'm Olivia."

"Aiden... This is Abbey... Who are you then?" Aiden asked.

"We're not unfriendly, look we have a car and some supplies, we're getting the hell out of here, you're welcome to join us." Olivia offered.

"... alright." Aiden replied reluctantly.

They did their introductions and started off again towards the others.

* * *

_**Railroad tracks...**_

"Damnit... where are ya people." I said impatiently. I checked my watch, _9:30_.

"Hey, they'll be here, just hang on." Ally said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

As if on cue, shadowy figures came approaching, they were conversing loudly, so they were obviously not of the dead. Stupid, yes, but dead, no.

"Ey, shut up will ya, you fools." Eric said, running up to them.

They introduced us to our new travel partners Cpt. Aiden, and Lt. Abbey. I wasn't taking orders from them, that's for sure.

"My land rover is another kilometer down this way." Tom said.

We walked for another 10 minutes until we came to Tom's car.

"Ah good to see ya again." He said to his dark green land rover.

"Rooaarrghh!!" 8 of the dead popped out of the trees, followed by more, just 50 meters away. They spotted us and ran at full speed.

"Shit, get the damn car open, and fill her up!" John yelled at Tom.

"I'm goin I'm goin!" Tom yelled back.

The car would take about 3 minutes to fill up, by the looks of it, we were screwed.

"Let's go!" I yelled, motioning everyone with a gun to make a defensive perimeter.

The number had now swelled to about 200, they multiplied exponentially, just pouring out of the forest, it seemed to be never ending. _BANG! BANG!_

Gunshots rang out, but it wouldn't be enough. Jane was the first to go, and for some reason Oliver threw himself at the 4 zombies that were attacking her and met the same fate. I switched to full auto and sprayed the group, all of them went down.

"Reloading!" Eric yelled from beside me.

I reloaded as well and switched back to semi-auto and took carefully aimed shots. Three more had made to within 5 meters, I took three shots, and three went down. I was the best sharpshooter in my unit, and it had served me well these past few days.

"SHIT! Tom hurry up!" John yelled back.

We were being overrun, then someone stepped up. As everyone fell back to the car, Jimy, with his nightstick and covered in the blood of his enemies moved forward, swinging wildly and bashing a head in every time.

"JIM!" I called out.

"GO!" He yelled back.

We all piled in the car, and the dead stopped chasing us, but went to Jimy. He continued fighting until we were all clear and the car jumped to life and we started driving.

"Wait for Jimy! Stop the fucking car!" I yelled at Tom.

"No can do, he's a goner." Tom snapped back at me

He drove off, leaving Jimy there, still fighting and slowly being surrounded.

* * *

Jimy had been bitten somehow, it was small, but lethal nonetheless. He knew he was dead, so he decided to buy his friends enough time to escape. He charged with his nightstick in hand and went on a rampage. His body seemed to know this was his last stand and supplied him with enough adrenaline.

He bashed head after head, and was bitten numerous times. The number of dead piled up around him, but he held his ground. Soon bodies piled up, but the swarm was never ending, and he was eventually taken down.

As the dead piled on him, he looked up into the sky, blocking out all of the pain, and said his silent prayer to god. 21 bodies lay beside him with their heads bashed in by a nightstick. When the dead finished with him, there was little left. _But what was left, never turned..._


	38. Bloody Americans!

_**Present, Day 6, August, 22, 12:01 am**_

We had been driving for hours to god knows where, it had only been a few hours since the whole fiasco at the small town we had called home for only a few days. Everyone was presumably dead. Jimy, Jon, Ashley, and other acquaintances. I was sitting in the way back with Ally. Tom and Eric were up front talking, Olivia, John and the two new military officers were crammed in the back with us, sleeping.

I hadn't noticed, but I was crying a little. Not streaming tears, but watery eyes that I was desperately trying to blink away. Ally was siting next to me asleep, resting her head on my shoulder, but sleep was fleeting for me. Every little bump in the road, every squeak, and every movement caused my senses to go into overdrive and it took quite an effort to calm myself down.

We pulled over for some reason and Eric, followed by Tom, got out. I followed, carefully as to not wake anyone in the car up, and joined them.

"Why did we stop?" I asked.

"So, we've made it at last fellas." Tom said with a huge smile on his face.

"What now?" Eric asked.

"Manchester." I started. "Like we planned."

"Now listen here, we barely made it out with our lives, you really want to go there now?" Tom snapped.

"We had a deal, you gonna stick to it or flake out?" I snapped back.

"Alright... alright, we'll run the plan by everyone else in the morning along with a supply check, in the mean time get some sleep, we'll need it." Tom said, then resigned back to the car.

Eric patted me on the shoulder, bid me good night, and went back to the car. I, on the other hand, could not sleep. The sky had since cleared up of the clouds and left me with a beautiful array of countless sparkling dots that illuminated the night. I stared up at it for minutes, almost forgetting my current predicament, it was truly hypnotizing in a good way.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Someone whispered, and upon further inspection, recognized it as Ally.

"Nothing... Just looking at the stars." I said.

"You know..." Ally said, head tilted up. "I've never seen the stars like this. I've always lived in town and the lights were too bright ya know."

"I would always go camping with Eric when we were younger, we'd sleep under the stars and it was... it seemed so limitless and... and free, if you know what I mean." I said.

She put an arm around my waste and rested her head on my shoulder, still looking up.

"You know this thing hasn't made it to the rest of the world, or so they say." She started. "If you get out of all of this, what do you plan on doing?"

"I haven't really thought about it... when you think ahead like that, you usually lose focus on the now, and well... you know it can get you killed." I replied.

"Oh don't be so negative... but I guess you're right, so what do you have planned for the now then?" She asked.

"Well... my family... and my girlfriend... they're in Bristol and Manchester." I answered.

"Oh, right." She said, then backed away from me.

"Well, we should probably get some sleep yeah?"

"Alright."

I climbed into the car to the very back seat with Ally and tried to get comfortable. I really liked her a lot, but the circumstances were crap. Any distraction could cost lives, I couldn't afford to be drawn towards something else. But I pushed those thoughts out and concentrated on the here and now. Ally leaned her head on my chest and rested her body on mine.

It gave me a sense of fulfillment, the warmth and weight of another person against me. I put my arm around her and got more comfortable, which took an effort since the car seats weren't exactly made for sleeping. I could feel her chest moving up and down as she breathed and took comfort in that. I soon dozed off, cured of my prior insomnia.

* * *

_**Present, Day 6, August 22, 8:33 am**_

I woke up, Ally was still sound asleep against me, but everyone else was awake and fairly quiet. Our two new passengers, Cpt Aiden, and Lt Taylor were talking quietly to eachother. The Cpt was tall, well built, and had black hair. Lt Taylor was a little shorter, shoulder length black hair, and had a small build. They were both wearing dirty, bloodied up military fatigues.

"Mornin'" Tom said, looking at me from the rear view mirror.

"Hey..." I replied.

Tom stopped the car and everyone piled out, including Olivia and Ally who were sleeping.

"Alright mates, we need a quick inventory on supplies, put your weapons on the hood, count all the ammo blah blah get to it." Tom said, then went to the back to check on food and water.

We had 2 C-7s and 7 glocks. Combined there were about 20 mags for the sidearms and between me and Eric, 12 mags for the C-7s. Other than that we had some knives and a few radios, all things considered, we were looking good.

"Okay, I had enough food for me to last about a month, didn't anticipate 7 other passengers so we're lookin at about a week. maybe less." Tom said.

"Where are we going." Aiden asked.

"Ah, we're headin to Manchester." Tom said, glancing over at me.

There were some whispers in the crowd, namely from the Cpt and his Lt, and from Olivia and John.

"Are you mad? Haven't you heard the news? The Americans are fire bombing Manchester along with a couple of other major cities!" Cpt Aiden said.

"What the fuck? What purpose would that even serve and where did this news come from?" I yelled.

"It's all over the military channels, we were ordered to vacate the cities and take as many civvies as we could with us." Aiden said.

"Bloody Americans." Eric mumbled.

"But WHY?!" I snapped.

"Some bollocks from the CDC about the disease mutating and becoming airborn, they think if they kill the heavy concentrations... and their food supply... they could stop it." Aiden finished.

"How did this get on the public news? Doesn't sound like a policy the world would accept... fucking Americans." I mumbled. I held US citizenship, having been born there, but I only spent about 4 days of my entire life in that country, but still, I was pissed.

"No no, I said the news came through military channels, not public. An Air vice marshal, Westland I think his name was, stationed in Canada came across the info somehow and got it to our temp RAF command in the netherlands... before they were killed... but before they were they got the message to command still in britain. Aiden finished.

"There's still a command here?" I said, surprised.

"Well... Not anymore." Lt. Taylor jumped in.

"Bottom line, we're not going anywhere near the cities. Even if they weren't bombing the shit out of us, those things are thick in the cities, it's suicide!" Aiden yelled.

"Why the hell would we go there anyway?" John asked.

"We had a deal, my car my rules, Alex helped, and I said I'd help him get his family." Tom said.

"Oh and what about us then huh Alex?" John snapped at me.

"You don't have to come... But if you did I would put my life on the line to help you get your family." I said truthfully.

"You're not hearing me!" Aiden yelled at the top of his lungs.

"They already bombed it 24 hours ago. It's done!!" He finished, visibly frustrated.

"Wha... Fucking... " I didn't finish my sentence and walked off, not knowing what to do. Had he just told me that my family was dead? Could they have gotten out of the cities when this all happened? I wanted to think so, but realistically it wasn't likely.

"You know we have families too..." Lt. Abbey Taylor said, everyone else remained silent.

I guess I was a little selfish in that regard, but this is the one time I didn't care because my sisters needed me, I didn't want to think of the fate that my have befallen them in that city, if they were dead or not...

"Yeah... you're not the only one mate." Aiden started out.  
"He's right, we all have fam---" John stated.

"Quiet! Please, look we all have families that we would like to get to, but let's be realistic, we can't go back now." Olivia started. "We're all in this together, if you hadn't noticed this is no ordinary crisis. The entire British government has collapsed—no, not just the government, the entire bloody country has collapsed on top of itself!"

"We are our own family now, we have to work together as a team, and maybe we'll get out of this alive, but we can't go on stupid endeavors such as waltzing into a highly populated city that's scheduled for bombing!" Olivia finished.

I had to hand it to her, she was quite the orator and had a good point. I didn't have to like that point, but it was still valid. I decided to let it go for now, my head was spinning in frustration, so letting it go for now would be for the best.

"Alright... Then it's settled, let's pack it up, I have some friends--Not in the city-- that are probably alive and can provide us with a safe haven to ride this thing out." Tom offered.

We all walked to the car, Eric went beside me and put his arm around me.

"Hey, it's not over till it's over mate, hang in there, we still got eachother." He said.

I smiled at Eric and gave him a pat on the back, then climbed back into the car. Clouds once again became prevalent in the morning sky signaling rainfall. I stared out the window and tried to daydream, forgetting all of this.


	39. Walking Tour

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait, got lost in another story and this took a backseat.**_

* * *

_**Day 6, August, 22, 10:04 am**_

We had been driving westward for hours and hours, and then we drove some more, stopping here and

there to stretch our legs and take a nap.

"So what do you think this virus is?" Lt Abbey asked, breaking the silence.

"Oh don't go there, I really don't want to hear your bloody theories." I snapped.

"Ey, piss off." Aiden came rushing to her defense.

"Oh fuck you, you have all the news from your stupid military channels, why don't you tell us what it is." I sneered. It was insubordination, but as long as he didn't know I was army he couldn't do anything about it.

"Shut the fuck up all of you!" Tom yelled.

He was having trouble with the car and we started to slow down.

"Well that's it then." He stated.

"What do you mean that's it? What's it?" John yelled at him.

"I mean that's bloody it! We're out of gas!" Tom snapped at him.

"Calm down, all of you." Olivia said.

We all got out of the car, and just stood there, looking at it. We stood there for about 20 minutes in silence, just waiting for the car to fix itself or more gas to appear out of thin air. _Didn't happen._

"Well, we're bollocksed I'd say." Eric stated.

"Anyone up for a walk?" Tom said.

"I'm not fucking walking out here!" John yelled at him. "Where the hell were you taking us anyway!" .

"John, calm down mate, I was takin us to a friends. I think I'm within... a few hundred miles of it... uh hope you guys like walkin." He said.

"How the hell are we supposed to carry all of the supplies, eh Tom?" I snapped.

"Uh... didn't quite think about that... hmm well there are a few backpacks to carry the food and water in, so... snap to it!" He said, almost humorously.

"Fucking bollocks..." I heard Eric mumble as he went back to the car.

"Do you know where we are? I mean where we actually are, a few hundred miles from your friends house isn't going to cut it." Aiden said.

"Um... Somewhere outside of Manchester?" Tom guessed.

"Bloody hell..." Aiden mumbled and walked off.

Lt Abbey was looking sick when she turned around and walked off to the side of the road. When she got there she made some choking sounds and threw up. Everyone gave her a quick glance, then went back to packing supplies. Aiden, on the other hand, rushed over to her side and helped her stay steady, putting his arm around her.

"Well you all ready to go now?" Tom asked.

Everyone gave a half-hearted mumble and Tom just smiled before going on his way. We were somewhere in the country, no buildings in site, just grass, trees, and dirt. It had rained this morning, so I took in the nice crisp, fresh smelling air and held it in as long as I could. Feeling revitalized, I was half excited for a nice walk.

I remember my father telling me of how my grandfather would go on walking tours I think he called it.

Every weekend he would pack a few supplies, some good walking shoes, a hat, and he would just go

walking for miles, stopping at different towns for the night and meeting new people. At the end of the

weekend he would start back home, and make it there before monday.

I had always wanted to do something like that. Just throw away my responsibilities and go for a nice

relaxing walk in the country. I did do a lot of walking, or rather marching and hiking, but it was always for a reason, a mission or a test. Despite the fact that many people I cared about had died, and that I'd likely follow them, I tucked it all away and enjoyed the atmosphere.

"Well you look happy." Olivia said, coming up beside me.

"Thanks for ruining it." I stated coldly.

"Hah, what exactly did I ruin? She asked.

"I almost forgot anyone was with me, and that my country had destroyed itself." I replied.

"Ey what are you two goin on about?" Eric joined us.

"Oh nothin, Alex here was just daydreaming is all." She said.

"Oh yeah? What about?" Eric asked. I just gave them both an annoyed stare.

"Hah, alright then." Eric said, joining John and Tom up front.

I looked behind me and saw Aiden and Abbey walking closely and talking about something, Ally was

behind them in the way back, head down trudging along so I decided to join her.

"You ok?" I asked.

"Oh what? Oh... yeah I'm fine." She said.

"Daydreamin were ya?" I asked.

"Yeah... I was, almost, you know just thinking about things." She replied.

"Yeah I know the feeling." I said.

"Listen, I'm sorry about your family and all... I mea--" She started.

"Don't even worry about it. What's done is done." I interrupted.

That's all I could think to say. I didn't believe they were dead, so I just held on to that hope to keep from

falling apart. I noticed Ally was still looking down and trudging, so I put my arm around her and tried to raise her spirits.

* * *

We had been walking for hours, I checked my watch and it was already 6 pm, the sun was starting to go 

down, and rain clouds were forming. We had been lucky with the rain, but now we needed to find shelter.

We hadn't seen any walking corpses at all, so we were lucky in that regard also. I decided to talk to Eric

about taking a rest, not for my sake, but for Ally who looked a bit pale. I unwrapped my arm from her and she seemed to startle out of her trance, but I gave her a nod and she went back to trudging along

hopelessly.

I rushed up front to John, Eric, Tom, and Olivia. "Ey Eric, we need to find some shelter." I told him.

"We passed a farmhouse about 20 minutes ago." Aiden said from the back.

"A what? Why didn't you say anything?" I snapped.

"It was about a kilometer off the road and looked abandoned." He said.

"Well... we need to find shelter, a place to rest for the night." I said, pointing up at the clouds.

"Alright... um... it's this way, we can cut across the field here." He said, taking the lead.

We all reluctantly followed him into a forested area where he said if we cut across we would make it to the shelter he had seen earlier. I didn't like him for some reason and I made that clearly evident. Eric seemed to notice since he hung back with me and Ally.

"Ey Ally, would ya mind givin us a minute alone?" He asked, she complied and caught up with the rest of the group ahead.

"Alex... You know you're really giving that guy a hard time for no reason at all." He said.

"Who... Aiden... Right, well so what about it?" I replied.

"Mate, he didn't do anythin to you, lay off him will ya?" He said.

"I don't like him Eric, okay? I just don't like him is all." I snapped.

"Hey don't take it out on me mate... you know what I think? I think just cause he told you about the

bombings you don't like him. For some reason you're takin it out on him." He reasoned with me.

Now that I thought about it, he seemed right. I never held grudges against people, even if they deserved it. Even my enemies would never be on the receiving end of insults, but rather mild-mannered jokes and sarcasm, god_ what had happened to me?_

"Alright... you know you haven't been all that warm to Ally yourself, whats wrong there?" I asked. Now that we were on the subject I noticed Eric was always cold towards her, not really carrying conversation with her or anything.

"I haven't... I don't, I mean there's no problem why do you say that?" He stuttered.

"Don't give me that mate, spit it out." I said.

"That obvious? Its--" He started.

"You don't love her do you?" I said jokingly.

"And what if I do? It's the end of the world and she's a fine lookin woman, you shaggin that already?" He said jokingly which earned him a punch in the shoulder.

"That's not it really though... um remember back outside London, when she pointed the gun at you?" He asked.

"Yeah... That's it? Mate, listen, that was a lifetime ago--" I started.

"It was 4 days ago!" He snapped.

"Even so... Just let it go alright?" I said.

"Yeah yeah... so you... you know..." He said winking at me and nodding towards Ally. I punched him in

the shoulder again.

We finished joking and rejoined the group who were talking about John's career as a football player.

"So you are a defense man AND a forward?" Tom asked.

"No no mate, you see I started out as a defense man, then moved up to forward." John explained.

"Ah... I was always a cricket man myself." Tom replied.

"Hah!" Olivia chirped.

"What?" Tom asked.

"Nothin, just never thought of you as a---"

Everyone stopped in their tracks. We all heard some mumbling coming from the clearing that separated the treeline from the farmhouse. It was actually a ranch composed of many different barns and houses.

It was completely dark outside by now and our natural night vision only provided us with limited visibility. We just stood there, not knowing what to do. The mumbling was getting louder and louder...


	40. The Other Beginning, Again

_**Day 1, 9:06 am, Outside of Norwich.**_

"Incoming hostiles!" Major Ford yelled. "Hold your fire until they're within 100 meters!"

Ford looked out towards the crowd of no less than 200 people closing in from the city. He had been given orders to hold this exitway and more specifically, to kill anything that came his way.

The 32 soldiers got into position behind the makeshift barricade that had been put together only an hour prior. It was composed mostly of road spikes, sandbags, barbed wire, and their utility trucks. They were armed with SA80s and light machine guns, but were mostly ill-equipped to handle a crowd of this magnitude.

"Captain, I need you over here now!" Ford yelled.

"Sir, Brooks reports we have incoming on our right flank, he has a few civvies with him as well." Captain Aiden Garrott said.

"What? Damnit... Alright, tell him to fall back to our position." Ford replied.

"Yes sir."

On the other side of the sandbag wall was a jungle of crashed and broken down cars with dead bodies strewn across the road, Ford had been given orders to kill everything, and _orders were orders_.

Gunfire suddenly erupted. The crowd was still 150 meters away, but following two or three shots from an antsy soldier, the rest of the men couldn't help but join in, firing aimlessly into the oncoming crowd. _Professional soldiers my ass. _Ford wasn't sure what made him more angry, the fact that his men were firing without his orders, or the fact that they were enjoying it.

"Major!" A Pvt yelled from the front seat of one of the trucks.

"Talk to me!" Ford yelled over the gunfire.

"Command has orders for us to move out. Norwich is lost and we're to rendezvous at Cambridge."

"Cambridge? Sonofa---"

Ford was cut off by a shriek coming from the sandbag wall. He looked back and watched as the rioters piled over and jumped his men. He rose his rifle and shot off a few rounds at the nearest perceived threats, but there were just too many of them now. Just seconds ago they were over 100 meters away, _how had they made it here so fast?_

"Major, we've got incoming from the right flank! Brooks and his men are at the rear, I suggest we get the hell out of here!" Aiden yelled.

"Captain, get on the radio and order everyone to fall back to the trucks, we've been ordered out."

"Yes sir."

"And Captain, get---"

Ford was cut off as one of his men jumped him from behind and tore into his shoulder.

- - -

Captain Aiden pulled out his firearm and shot off a round into the man's head. Major Ford fell over clutching his arm and cursing in pain so Aiden grabbed his superior officer and threw him into the nearest truck.

"_Click._ Attention, attention, all units are to fall back to the trucks, I repeat we're getting the hell out of here!" Aiden yelled into his radio.

Captain Aiden jumped into the truck and tried to get it started. He looked out and saw people running around, some were crazy looking and were going apeshit, while some looked struck with fear and were just trying to get away.

"Damnit start you bastard!" Aiden yelled at the car.

"It... It's..." Ford said.

"It's what?!" Aiden then looked out the front window and saw bullet holes and smoke coming from the hood.  
"Sonofabitch."He mumbled.

Aiden got out of the truck with his sidearm out and fired at anyone he deemed a threat. The chaos had intensified since he first got in the truck and he couldn't tell friend from foe. Two trucks were already driving off, others were being broken into and tipped over. The ones who weren't occupied by the trucks, were busy chasing civilians and soldiers alike.

Aiden grabbed the Major and dragged him to another nearby truck that had a Corporal in it desperately trying to get the car started. Ford was almost unconscious and mumbling.

"Captain... Leave me, that's.. an order..." He barely got out.

"With all due respect sir." Aiden said. "Shut the fuck up."

After making faces and hand signals to the driver, he unlocked the door and Aiden threw the Major inside and the door shut as the Corporal drove off without Aiden.

"Argghh." Someone said. Aiden looked over his shoulder and saw Pvt. Rake.

"What the..."

"Rooaarggh." Pvt. Rake said.

"Private---" Rake jumped on Aiden and pinned him against the Asphalt.

Aiden frantically squirmed under the big man's weight, but his efforts were futile. He looked over to the right and saw his sidearm, he tried to reach out for it, but it was just too far away and he needed both of his arms to hold off the crazy Pvt.

- - -

"Abbey, help me!" Sgt Rhonda Archer yelled.  
"Hold on!" Lt. Taylor replied.

Rhonda was being pinned on the ground by one of the rioters who was forcing himself on her, trying to take a chunk out of her face. Abbey was dealing with another rioter who was holding her against the truck.

"Ahhh!" Rhonda screamed in pain. The man screamed in glee as he ripped off her cheek.

Rhonda started crying until another rioter stopped and joined in the feast. Abbey summoned some extra strength after seeing what happened to her friend and kicked the woman off her, she took out her sidearm and put two rounds in the chest and one in the head. The other two men apparently got bored of feasting on Sgt Archer and turned to Abbey, blood dripping from their mouth.

Quickly she ran the other way while the two men chased her. She sprinted for her life, looking back to see two bloodthirsty animals chasing her until she tripped over two men on the floor. She recognized them as Pvt. Rake and Cpt. Garrot.

"Taylor!" The Cpt yelled out as she was tackled by her two pursuers.

"Ahhh!' She screamed and squirmed around wildly, flailing her arms to keep the men off of her.

_BANG! BANG! _Cpt. Garrott stood above the three men that he had just shot in the head and helped Abbey up.

"Taylor are you alright?" He asked as he whisked her away towards the nearest truck.

Abbey tripped over another dead body and was dragged by the Cpt as another 5 people spotted them and screamed their warcry. When they got to the empty truck, Cpt Garrot threw Abbey inside and ran over to the driver's side.

"Shit where are the keys... Damnit!" He fumbled around with the keys and finally got them into the ignition.

The 5 people that were chasing them quickly turned into 10, and then into 15, they were trying to tip the truck over and bash the windows in, but Aiden finally go the truck started and sped off, smashing 3 rioters in the process.

"Oh shit, shit, what the fuck." Aiden yelled to himself. "Lieutenant are you alright...? Lieutenant!"

"I'm... Yeah I'm fine." Abbey was shaken out of her trance, still shocked at what just happened.

"_Click. _This is Captain Garrott, Brooks, Cutler, is anyone out there? Answer me damnit!" He yelled into the truck's radio.

"This is Brooks, good to hear ya got out man, from what Jim is tellin me you guys got mobbed at the barricade." Came a reply.

"Brooks, is there any word on the major? Any orders from command?" Aiden asked.

"Not that I know of, then again you'd have to ask Ford." Brooks replied.

"DAMNIT!" Aiden cursed and slammed his fist on the dashboard which caused Abbey to jump.

"Sorry Taylor, you alright?" He asked.

"You already asked me that sir, and yeah I'm fine." She stated more to herself than to him.

They drove about 3 kilometers down the road until the met up with the other trucks. Abbey could only see 3 other trucks that made it, most of them had their windows smashed in and soldiers were outside stretching their legs and puking their guts out. Abbey couldn't fathom why they would want to stop so close to what had just happened, but then she felt hot, bitter tasting liquid in her throat and when the truck stopped she jumped out and joined in with 4 other soldiers that were puking on the side of the road.

* * *

_**A/N: I've slowed down a bit on the updates sorry about that. The ideas are coming a bit slower and I don't want to force it, partly due to the fact that I have another story up and my focus is on that.**_


	41. Buckle Up

_**Day 6, 7:01 pm, Just outside the ranch**_

When it rains it pours. Everyone in our group was as still as a statue, the unknown person was still in the field waiting for something. As the sun slowly dipped below the horizon, it became dark and the rain was making everything muddy. My clothes were sticking to my skin and everyone was huddled together. On the bright side though, we didn't smell as bad.

Ally had been coughing all day when we were walking. I didn't notice it at first, but during our vigil in the brush, it had more than grabbed my attention.

"Eric." I whispered. "What do you think?"

"Pneumonia?" Eric responded.

"She had a small cut on her leg, but told me it was nothing and she shows a few of the symptoms." I said. "Think this farmhouse is worth the risk?"

"Well, I don't think we have a choice unless everyone here wants to walk the entire night in the rain." Eric said. "And if she does have pneumonia, we have to get her inside asap."

"Alright." I said, turning back to everyone. "We're going to check it out."

At that everyone showed their wide-eyed disapproval that none of us could see anyways since it was pitch black outside.

"I'm going, Aiden, you're with me. Everyone else stay put." I ordered, giving a 'make sure the group doesn't do anything stupid' look to Eric, who understood completely.

Aiden and I abandoned our hiding spot and slowly made our way to the truck. We only saw one figure outlined in the light of the trucks brights.

"Ahem, excuse me." Aiden called out, earning him a shove to the ground from me.

"Get off of me! We can't sneak up on them, they'll think we're one of those fuckers." Aiden said. He had a point so I complied.

"Who's out there!" A voice called out. "Get up slowly and show me your hands, this thing is loaded and I know how to use it."

"We don't mean any harm, I'm Aiden and this is Alex." Aiden yelled.

"Alright Aiden and Alex, come on over here." He ordered. As we approached I saw he was an older man with a sawed off shotgun in his hands. His truck was actually a small station wagon with a bunch of supplies inside.

"What do you want?" The man asked. He was now right in our face.

"Um, we were walking for miles, we saw the ranch and thought..." Aiden started

"Well you thought---" He was cut off when I made a move for his gun.

With lightning speed and pinpoint accuracy I grabbed the gun with my left hand and his trigger finger with my right. He didn't even have a chance after I rendered his trigger finger immobile, I kicked his legs out from under him and had his own gun pointed at his face.

"Alex what the hell are you doing!" Aiden yelled.

"What needs to be done." _Christ what had gotten in to me?_

The rest of our group came out of the woods, everyone except Ally and Eric were wide-eyed and surprised. The old man got up slowly and stared down the barrel of his own gun. He looked at all of us, then looked back at the farm houses.

"Don't look back there." I ordered coldly.

"Look... we can cut a deal here..." He said looking back again.

"I said don't fucking look back there." I pushed the barrel right up against his nose.

"How many of you are there?" I asked. "And how many weapons do you have?"

"Um... we.. I... There are 4 of us... Only one gun." He replied.

"You're lying, lie to me again and I blow your fucking head off." I stated.

Eric looked at me worriedly, even he was spooked out by my behavior, I could tell.

"Um... Okay please don't shoot me, there are 8 of us, we were on a bus and stopped here, the place was abandoned I swear, we only have the shotgun we found in the house and a handgun... Please don't shoot me." He cried out.

_Crack... Crunch... _

I heard mumbling in the distance over rain that was pelting the ground.

"Over here!---" The man tried to yell, but I mauled him with the gun and knocked him out.

"Shit, Eric--"

I was cut off as gunshots rang out. I could hear bullets whiz by as I ducked behind the car.

"AHHHH!" I heard someone scream. The guns went silent and I could hear more people whispering and mumbling in the distance. I realized then, that John had been hit, and was screaming in pain.

"Hold on John, look at me, don't close your eyes just keep looking at me..." Olivia said, holding John in her arms.

I looked down at him and he had two gunshot wounds in his chest. Blood mixed with muddy water as the rain washed it off his body and onto the ground. He started to cough up blood, and I knew he was a goner, he would drown in his own blood and it was my fault. At that, Eric started firing off his rifle, and I followed suit. The others fired back.

"Alex, I got the keys, get everyone in the car we have to go NOW!" Eric said, pulling car keys out from the man's limp form.

John was dead. Tom had to pull Olivia away and we all got in the car while Eric, Aiden, and I covered them. There couldn't have been more than 3 gunmen, but they seemed to have unlimited ammunition as they kept pelting the car with lead until we finally got it started, tires kicking up mud as we sped away.

"What the fuck were you thinking Alex!" Aiden yelled at me.

"I got us a bloody car, so sit back and shut the--" A fist in my face cut me off, then I was staring down the barrel of his pistol.

"You almost got us all killed!" He yelled.

"He got John killed damnit!" Olivia yelled.

"Everyone shut the fuck up!" Alley yelled through troubled breathing and coughing.

Eric sped back onto the road and continued driving north, as soon as he got the car steadied he pulled his gun on Aiden, which caused Abbey to pull her gun on Eric, and Tom to pull his gun on Abbey. Ally tried to calm us down to no avail. We went silent for a minute, only the rain hitting the exterior of the car echoed in our heads.

"You stupid bloody fool!" Aiden started yelling again.

"You're an idiot, I'm doing what's best for this group." I yelled back. "If we didn't get this car we'd be gunned down by now or worse!"

"You got John killed, are you stupid?!" Olivia yelled, pulling her gun out.

"Quiet everyone!" Ally yelled, but no one listened.

"Shut the fuck up people!" Tom yelled, but no one listened to him either.

_Screeeeech... THUMP!_ The car came to a screeching halt, and everyone flew forward. Aiden was knocked out when he hit the windshield, Abbey's gun went off. I flew into the front seat, Alley flew into me, Tom bumped into Olivia and his gun went off as well. Eric, the only one who was wearing a seatbelt, got out of the car to assess the situation.

"Shit... shit... shit... stupid stupid FUCK!" Eric was cursing for some reason, and I joined it.

I came to my full senses and looked in horror at what had happened. Eric had been shot in the shoulder and Olivia was shot in the head. Aiden was passed out and Abbey was dazed and stumbling around. Alley was also knocked out and Tom looked confused. Everyone was soaking wet and water had somehow found its way into the car.

"Aiden!" Abbey yelled, rushing to Aiden's side and looking him over. He looked fine except for a bump on the head, he was starting to come to when we heard another car coming towards us.

"Get back in the car..." Eric mumbled at first. "Get back in the fucking car NOW!"

Gunshots rang out again as our pursuers fired through their open windows. Tom pushed an obviously dead Olivia out of the car and got in, firing off a few rounds himself at the oncoming vehicle. Eric stepped on the gas and we accelerated. More gunshots rang out from the other car, and I could hear the bullets hitting the metal exterior of our station wagon. Eric swerved back and fourth, trying to shake them.

_Everyone put their seat belts on this time..._


End file.
